If the Tánaiste or I want to get a Bus Éireann bus or an Iarnród Éireann train, including a DART, we just turn up at the station, buy a ticket and get on. Wheelchair users cannot do that. There is an expectation that they should give up to 24 hours notice to use an ordinary transport system that is provided and subsidised by the taxpayers of this country. Surely it is not beyond us to provide a better facility for wheelchair users. I acknowledge that there are new DART carriages coming, but they are up to two years away. They will facilitate ease of access, but wheelchair users who are using Bus Éireann or Iarnród Éireann will still have difficultly getting on and off transport and will still have to give notice in the meantime. They should not have to give notice in this day and age and we should be making sure it is easier for them to use public transport.

I fully agree with Deputy Ward. I thank him for raising what is an incredibly important issue. I see it in my community and, of course, he also sees it in his, probably most particularly on the DART line. Not to justify it, but this has certainly arisen as a result of a huge disparity in facilities at stations and access points across the country, particularly in the context of the many stations that were designed and built in the Victorian era.

We are absolutely committed to improving accessibility. There has been some clear and tangible progress. Last year, Irish Rail reduced the advanced notice requirement to just one hour at 15 of the busiest stations across the network, covering almost all terminus stations and the majority of assistance requests. There is a specific action in the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. Irish Rail is set to introduce a new passenger assistance management system across the rail network for customers requiring assistance, including those with disabilities, by the end of this year. Briefly, another good example is the new infrastructure, as the Deputy rightly referenced, namely the DART+ fleet, which will arrive next year. Each carriage will have an automatic sliding doorstep that will deploy every time the doors open. This will reduce the platform gap. The Deputy is so right to highlight this, and we should pursue it until it is fully resolved.