Many people in society have difficulties navigating often long and pointless automated systems when they are trying to get help in relation to essential services. The private companies, providing these public services have completely stripped back their customer care teams and have implemented difficult to navigate systems. Often times the systems are set up to discourage customers from reaching a human representative in order to keep their cost low and profits high.  For some of us this is a mere inconvenience and we are either tech savvy enough to figure out how to resolve our issue online, or we stick it out and speak to a human representative. However for many these systems often stops people from getting the help they need.  This is an issue that has a bigger impact on older members of society, often used to being able to go to a local branch to sort out an issue, are now faced with complicated systems that stop them from getting the assistance they need.  Any company that is providing a public service, should have accessible help lines for those who need them. 

As the two family representatives who recently stepped down from the Service Improvement Board and working groups for the Progressing Disabilities Roadmap, we requested a meeting with Minister for Disability, Anne Rabbitte. In our meeting, we discussed various issues and agreed that we must urgently review the Progressing Disability Services (PDS) model. We believe this review is crucial to ensure that the services for children with disabilities are effective, inclusive, and respect their rights as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). We will not accept a system that fails to acknowledge the inherent dignity and humanity of children, families, and staff. We urge that the review of Progressing Disabilities be led by stakeholders, including families, people with disabilities, staff, and representative organizations. Let’s come together to assess what is working, what isn’t, and what needs to happen next to shift towards a human rights framework for children in Ireland.  The time has come for us to lead the change we want to see. We have waited long enough, and our children simply do not have the luxury of time. Many challenges in disability services can prevent children with disabilities from having their rights and voices heard. By advocating for a stakeholder-led review, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of current services, identifying best practices and areas for improvement. Our goal is to ensure that the views and rights of children and their families are prioritized, leading to fairer and more accessible support for everyone. To make meaningful change happen, we are seeking your support to help build a strong coalition that advocates for the rights of children with disabilities and promotes a culture of inclusion and understanding.

People are struggling to get around because our footpaths are in such a state. This is an accessibility issue, and councils must take it more seriously.

Prior to April 2023 an Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) only needed to be registered in the event that the person who created it subsequently lost mental capacity.  Approximately 1,200 EPAs were registered each year up to 2022.   It is estimated that only 15% of EPAs created under that old system subsequently required to be registered, which would mean that approximately 8,000 EPAs would have had to have been created each year to produce the figure of 1,200 registered, or 670 a month. In April 2023 the Decision Support Service (DSS) was established and the system for creation of EPAs was radically changed.  It was expected this new system would enable wider uptake of EPAs by the public and ensure greater protection of vulnerable people as they age.  However, as of 28 February 2024, it was stated in answer to a parliamentary question that only 697 EPA applications had been submitted to the DSS for registration in its first ten months of operation, roughly what would have been created in one month under the old system. In other words 10 times less than before.   The new system intended  to increase the number of people with EPAs has resulted in a collapse in the numbers being created  in contrast with the old system which worked very well.  The problem is an online platform  imposed on the creation of EPAs  by the DSS which does not enable a professional adviser to access the platform on behalf of anyone wishing to have their assistance with the creation of the documentation to ensure that it is done correctly. Anyone wishing to have professional assistance in the creation of an EPA via a digital platform should be facilitated in doing so and is entitled to have their professional adviser access the system on their behalf  to advise and assist in preparing what can be complicated and profoundly important documents with serious legal consequences. Revenue’s online ROS system allows a tax adviser to prepare and file returns for a taxpayer. The Injuries Resolution Board’s web-portal allows an agent to prepare an injury claim on behalf of a claimant. The Land Registry, the Companies Registration Office and others all do likewise.  The DSS platform does not and that needs to be fixed urgently  to allow people who want help from their professional advisers in creating an EPA to get it by providing professional advisers with access to the new online platform on behalf of anyone wishing to have their assistance. This is a change required to fix the system for creation of EPAs that can and should be made immediately to end this crisis in the creation of  EPAs which is causing serious problems for vulnerable people who need to have them in place. We are signing this petition to ask the Minister for State to fix this problem as soon as possible.

In 2021, the Bus Éireann route 20/X20 was cancelled, impacting commuters in Galway City and towns such as Craughwell, Loughrea, Aughrim and Ballinasloe. The route was privatised and replaced with the 706/706X route ran by a private company. This route ignored Craughwell, Loughrea and Aughrim and left Ballinasloe with less frequent services. Now in 2024 the private route is being cancelled, with the company saying it is not profitable enough. Public transport is an essential public service and should be ran as such, not left to the whims of private companies.

All children can learn. All children have a right to an education and we need to stand up for some of the most vulnerable children in our community who are being denied an education.

Bus Connects has been granted permission by An Bord Pleanala to remove the bus stops at Danieli Road (1219) and Killester Avenue (1220). These are proposed to be replaced by a single bus stop outside Artane Cottages Lower, on a narrow footpath with no room for a bus shelter. This means there will be no bus stop with shelter or seats on Malahide Road southbound between Artane Roundabout and Maypark (near Donneycarney church), a distance of almost 1km. The local community is losing two well-used bus stops with full amenities situated on wide footpaths. Instead, all bus passengers who would otherwise use those two stops will be forced to wait on a narrow footpath directly outside the doors and windows of the houses at Artane Cottages Lower, with no shelter or amenities. This will affect every passenger using the bus service along this whole stretch of the Malahide Road. The biggest impact will be on older passengers, passengers with disabilities and those travelling with children. The distances to bus services for residents from Killester Park / Craigford Drive and St. Brigid’s / Danieli Road will increase significantly. The severe impact on all bus passengers in the area and on the residents of Artane Cottages Lower has been explained many times to Bus Connects in public consultations and formal objections to their proposals, but no changes have been made or instructed to them by An Bord Pleanala. At this stage, the only option to prevent this proposal from being implemented in the Bus Connects scheme is to put pressure on the NTA and the Bus Connects project managers and engineers to revise the detail design for the stops between Artane Roundabout and Maypark in the next stage of the works. Help us to lobby Bus Connects to revise the design. Please sign the petition AND email them at [email protected] to tell them to save our bus stops.

Let's make Mullingar accessible to everyone, bring the bus!

Both my parents are hard of hearing, they had three children with full hearing. We grew up with sign language, with subtitles on the telly and with an appreciation for how hard things are for deaf people. There's 103,000 deaf or hard of hearing people in Ireland. They deserve a decent subtitling service, regardless of the T.V station, show or type of programme. Unfortunately subtitling is patchy, sometimes out of sync or sometimes not provided at all. Please support this by adding your name.

Children in Balbriggan and surrounding areas do not have the abillity to swim. Only 6/23 schools surveyed in north county Dublin have swimming on the curriculum. Balbriggan was promised a swimming pool in partnership with the rugby club in a plan scrapped in 2016. Skerries was promised a swimming pool years previously. People have to spend time and money to access a pool outside the area. Swimming is a basic life skill and contributes to sport and health of our community.

Disabled people want to live full and equal lives. We want to work in secure, adequately paid employment with the necessary education, skills, qualifications, access, opportunities, and services i.e. Personal supports and transport. Forcing people into discriminatory and degrading assessments and being categorised based on impairments for the purpose of social protection is degrading, inhumane, and tramples over our human rights as per UN Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities and the Employment Equality Act.

Join this campaign to emphasise a logical solution to the housing crisis.