17 hours ago
Accessibility group left 'embarrassed' by the 'astonishing' lack of disabled access at Leinster House
A group of people with disabilities who were invited to Leinster House to give training on accessibility ended up 'trapped' and 'embarrassed' after a lift broke down in the building.
The group, who provide disability awareness training, said they were 'astonished' at how inaccessible Leinster House turned out to be, following their disastrous visit to the capital last year.
In an email, they described 'accessible' toilets that were not large enough to cater for wheelchairs; buses being refused access to drop off people with mobility issues; and a broken-down lift that left five members of the group 'stranded'.
They told the head of the Oireachtas that members of the group had been stuck on a corridor and were left 'very embarrassed' when able-bodied people had to 'edge' their way past them on their way to offices or lunch.
One message said: 'From the moment of our arrival, we encountered barriers and exclusion.' Pic: Clare O'Beara/Shutterstock
The HSE Gold Star Disability Awareness Training programme and volunteers, from Tipperary, visited last June on the invitation of an Oireachtas member.
In the email, they said the room where they delivered their training was inaccessible on 'a number of disability access levels'.
Then, when members tried to go downstairs to the restaurant, one lift broke down and another was discovered to be out of service.
The email said: 'The lift to offer access to the lower corridor, en route to the restaurant, broke down when we had five people safely down, leaving others stranded at the top.
'Once these five people tried to continue to access the restaurant, they were met with a note on the second lift that said, 'Temporarily Out of Order'.'
The message added: 'Every person there was tired, embarrassed, disappointed, hungry and let down once more in terms of their rights to universal access and the dignity of using a toilet privately.'
It said these were just some of the problems that needed to be addressed and asked for a meeting with Oireachtas management.
In response, the Clerk of the Dáil, Peter Finnegan, expressed his 'sincere apologies' for how the visit had turned out.
He said: 'We fell well short of the standards that people are entitled to expect when they visit their national parliament.' Pic: Damien Storan/Shutterstock
A representative of the group returned in July to give advice on how Leinster House could be made more accessible for people with disabilities.
However, progress has been slow, in particular with regard to the replacement and upgrading of lifts, work that has to be carried out by the OPW.
In September, the representative of the group wrote again to ask if there had been any update.
The Oireachtas said a public procurement process for a new lift would start soon and that an additional accessible toilet would be provided.
A message said that some of the toilets that had previously been marked 'accessible' were no longer signposted as such and that training for all staff had been scheduled for this year.
In December, the group responded saying members were 'very patient' but were 'anxious to know that they are not forgotten'.
By April, they said they were 'quite anxious' to see if changes had taken place and whether a return visit was possible.
In response, Peter Finnegan said the new accessible toilet project was complete and a job coach [and] disability liaison officer was to be appointed imminently. However, the lift problem was proving to be a bigger challenge.
Mr Finnegan's email said: 'The advice provided by the OPW is that the project to install a new platform lift for the members' restaurant will be more complex than just simply replacing the existing lift.
'The overall solution for the area requires changes to access and egress and some internal changes to offices and security posts.'
Mr Finnegan said that while progress had been made, the improvements were not 'as far advanced' as they hoped, especially on the provision of a new lift that is accessible to wheelchair users.
