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AN INCREASING NUMBER of lifts have been reported as out of order over the past number of weeks, by campaign group Access for All, who “fear that if this goes on any longer that there will be people stranded or stuck”.
The group which advocates for equal access to transport noticed an increasing number of lifts not working with an average of almost nine every day over the past week across Dart and Dublin commuter stations.
This figure has increased week-on-week for the past four weeks with an average of just over four lifts out of service in mid-April.
“Irish Rail are considered an essential service so surely they would be able to service lifts or get them serviced,” said Sean O’Kelly, campaigner for Access for All, who previously wrote about being stranded on the platform in Clontarf.
He felt that Irish Rail are “not taking the opportunity to upgrade the lifts while very few people are using public transport”.
We can’t understand why there are lifts out of order. There is a huge lack of services.
A spokesperson from Irish Rail said that “repair works continue to lifts right across our network. Every effort is being made to ensure that lifts are repaired as speedily as possible, but there are some delays to supply lines due to Covid 19.”
They continued: “We have a comprehensive maintenance schedule for our lifts, which is ongoing, but unfortunately they can from time to time go out of order. Anti-social behaviour is a major reason for lifts going out of order.”
The worst day, according to Access for All, was last Wednesday 6 May when 12 lifts were reported as out of service. O’Kelly said they obtain this information from the “Irish Rail website and platform screens” on a daily basis.
Irish Rail did not agree with this figure stating there were seven lifts out of order that day. However, on checking the website following a query from Noteworthy, it noticed that Malahide and Donabate stations “do have alerts up to say that the lifts are out of order, this is an error, they have been removed”.
This is an error that O’Kelly has often encountered. “It’s misleading to those who need lifts,” he explained, as they may not travel or avoid that station.
“It’s not just people with disabilities. It’s those with buggies and older people. We just can’t rely on Irish Rail or the Dart. Without a working lift, our independence is taken away.”
LIFT OUT investigation
Do you want to know more about the accessibility of public transport in Ireland for people with disabilities?
The Noteworthy team want to do an in-depth investigation into this issue through freedom of information requests and by talking to those affected.
They also want to want to investigate what is being done by Irish Rail, Luas and other public transport bodies and whether these actions are adequate for passengers.
Here’s how to help support this proposal>
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My wife bought me a ticket as a Crimbo present I won €500 yay!! She has just spent it in Ikea!!! now I’ve to put all these flat packs together!!
Clever woman!
Congrats! And jealous of your wife’s lkea shopping spree :) happy flat packing!
Ah I’m happy for them…..but am so jealous!
I know I will get a lot of red thumbs for this. The only reason people go public after winning the lotto is to gloat to the rest of the country. I have more respect for people who dont go public
No I think you get less money if you stay anonymous.
I dont think its true graham. You dont have to go public. I know I wont even if they offer an extra, lets say 10k, to the 1M won.
How’s that?
Sorry you get an extra €20,000 for going public. Stand there for a few photographs for an extra 20k. I’d do it.
No way would I go public if I won it. I don’t want the papers harrassing me or my family
But what about the begging letters? I’d keep sending them if I won.
Jaysis that jokes so old it doesn’t have ancestors
Complete myth you get more for going public. National lottery confirmed it, pretty sure the journal had an article about it a few months ago
You get exactly the same money. Only difference is if go public you get the champagne day with the handing over of the cheque and photos shoot etc
I’d be fairly raging if I was the aunt….. Hope the throw her a few quid.
Why are media outlets so obsessed with the fact “the winner has yet to come forward”? The same in that rag, the independent. The draw was less than 48 hours ago! Give them a chance. And congrats to the winner and to this couple. Great start to their life together!
No i didn’t win but it’s my near year’s resolution to do just that.
“This will definitely help with the wedding” …. wedding of the decade there id say if that will just “help” :-) And as for the €1mill I suppose I should have bought a ticket! maybe Next time!!
how many tickets went into the drum on the night of the draw looked nothing like 300000 tickets we all sat looking and waiting and over 90% didn,t make it into the drum {ripped again}
Dave i think i read somewhere that only a certain amount of them go into the draw for the million…..they are all supposedly put in for the other draws. Same as winning streak only 100 tickets go into drum for the following weeks programme. I could be wrong
Money can’t buy happiness !!! Congrats to the winners !!
True, money can’t buy happiness, but it makes the search for it much more comfortable.
If I did I will be shovelling the cocaine into my gaf!
No.
Id love to be at that wedding if it only going to help. I’d go collect me million if it would only stop raining.
Quite like the blonde in the green dress in the lotto crimbo
Draw ad..
The only way to positively guarantee winning the lottery is to get the numbers on your ticket to match the actual drawn numbers. Pity it’s so hard to know that in advance! I have a little just-for-fun page which generates my own personal random quick pick numbers. As I say, it is strictly just for fun, but you never know your luck! Look out for VillaLibra if you want to see if you can locate it.
have your say