County council steps up for disability

Cork County Council has been called upon by disability campaigners to pass a motion calling for the appointment of a dedicated access and inclusion officer in the county.

Last month, Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) started a campaign to improve access to local services and amenities for people with disabilities and mobility issues.

The campaign highlighted that 81% of local authorities, including County Cork, do not have a dedicated access officer appointed to make public services and amenities more accessible.

Since the beginning of the campaign, two separate motions have been on the agenda at Cork County Council calling for a dedicated access officer for Cork county, one brought forward by Social Democrats councillor Isobel Towse earlier in the month, and another tabled by Independent Ireland councillor Danny Collins just last week. As of yet, neither motion has been passed by the council.

In his motion, Cllr Collins called on Cork County Council to provide a report on additional measures it has taken to enact provisions of the Disability Act 2005 in the last five years. He said the appointment of a dedicated access officer would ensure the council would be fully in line with European Regulations set out in 2020.

“Only in the last four or five weeks I’ve had two people come to me,” said Cllr Collins. “One lady who’s visually impaired has problems with pedestrian crossings and signals which don’t work in a certain town in my area.

“Also, I’ve had a gentleman who is now a wheelchair user after a rare disease. He wants to travel from his home down to a gym where he wants to build up his body. While his wife is out working every day, he can’t travel because of footpaths and whatnot,” said the councillor.

The Cork councillors are among representatives from 23 out of Ireland’s 26 county councils that have reached out to IWA to support the organisation’s call for a local access and inclusion officer.

This month, Louth County Council appointed its first dedicated access and inclusion officer becoming one of only four counties in Ireland to fill such a role, the others being Westmeath, Wexford, and Dublin.

“We have been very encouraged by the support we have had from individual local councillors in Cork and around Ireland,” said Rosaleen Lally, IWA’s National Access Programme Manager.

“We know that people with disabilities cannot use many public buildings, paths, pedestrian crossings, bus stops, train stations, parks, and beaches etc. in our communities. Every local authority in Ireland should have a dedicated access and inclusion officer in their organisation to focus on solving some of these problems,” said Ms lally.

Aside from Cork, county councils in Waterford, Sligo, Longford, Mayo, Kerry, Kilkenny, Carlow, Cavan, Galway, and Tipperary have already passed the motion to support the campaign.