Lack of wheelchair access criticised

Planks have to be put across the track at a midlands railway station so that a person in a wheelchair can get on a train, the Dáil was told.

Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly) made her comments during a debate on the Estimates in response to Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív. Ms Enright said she was "amazed" that the Minister could say the rail system was being "revolutionised".

Ms Enright suggested that "when he is revolutionising the rail system, the Minister might go to Tullamore and see a person in a wheelchair having wooden planks put on the track so that they can cross over to get a train to Galway or Dublin.

"They wait for staff at the station to bring out a piece of wood and put it across the tracks, which would be illegal for anybody else to do, and they are wheeled across the railway line. I do not think that amounts to revolutionising the railway system and if we cannot address basic issues like this, we are in serious trouble."

Mr Ó Cuív had earlier said that major investment is taking place in rail and road development. "Not so many years ago we were trying to bring the rail network up to a safe standard. Next year we will spend €435 million on capital investment in rail."

He added: "What are we getting for that? Again, we are getting results. We will be getting a train to Galway every hour at busy times of the day and every two hours at other times, something that those of us who live in the west have dreamt about and worked towards for a long time. We are also getting the western rail corridor."

The Minister insisted that "the timescales in the transport plan will be adhered to".

Winding up the debate, Minister of State for Enterprise Michael Ahern signalled changes in the budgetary process. He said Minister for Finance Brian Cowen and Cabinet colleagues had examined proposals to reform the process. Mr Cowen "is considering options which would facilitate more informed Dáil scrutiny of the global tax and expenditure budgetary aggre-gates and the individual Estimates of each department, while retaining the Government's right and duty to direct and manage the budgetary process".