A report has found significant progress has been made in the last four years in making transport accessible to disabled people.
The National Disability Authority (NDA) report on transport access found that all of Bus Eireann's urban fleet had low floor access for the disabled, while 40 per cent of the Dublin Bus fleet had low floors.
The report also welcomed the investment made by Iarnród Éireann to make its services accessible. It predicts that by 2005, all stations on the DART line will be fully accessible and the new Luas service will have disabled access on all of its carriages from the day of its launch.
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However, the report notes that a large part of the existing rail transport network requiressubstantial investment to make it accessible. It says this is imperative as it will be some years before accessible long-distance coaches will be introduced.
The NDA welcomes the establishment of the Commission on Taxi Regulation, who will have a key role to play in improving access to taxis.
The report calls on the Department of Transport to ensure that transport legislation, regulation and licensing contain requirements to ensure accessibility for people withDisabilities.
"The Government must give a firm commitment to continuepriority investment in accessible transport infrastructure and theestablishment of a single travel information source for people withdisabilities," said Ms Angela Kerins, Chairperson of the National DisabilityAuthority.