Compliance and Redress Procedures

Officials responsible for Plan

Bus Éireann, Bus Átha Cliath, Iarnród Éireann, the Railway Procurement Agency/Veolia Transport, the Dublin Airport Authority (in respect of the three State Airports) and the Commission for Taxi Regulation have each already appointed a senior official with specific responsibility for transport accessibility matters. Each marine port authority will also be required to appoint a senior official with specific responsibility for transport accessibility matters. The appointee in each case will be responsible for delivering on the commitments contained in this Sectoral Plan in respect of the company concerned and for reporting to, and liaising with, the Department in relation to all transport accessibility matters. Marine port authority appointees will also be required to encourage other service providers within their harbour areas to ensure that passenger services provided by them are accessible, as far as practicable, to people with mobility, sensory and cognitive impairments.

Memoranda of Understanding

The Department of Transport has in place a Memorandum of Understanding with each of the CIÉ companies which links performance standards and quality of services with subvention payments made by the Department to the companies. The Department proposes to extend the range of performance targets when the Memoranda are next issued to include the provisions of this Sectoral Plan, insofar as they pertain to the companies' areas of responsibility.

The indicators against which accessibility performance will be measured will be developed in line with the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) criteria developed under the Customer Charter initiative of the Department of An Taoiseach in 2003.

Complaints and Redress Structures

The Minister will ensure that all State transport companies and Veolia Transport will have in place adequate complaints and redress structures to deal with issues concerning access by people with mobility, sensory and cognitive impairments to their services. The companies will be asked to incorporate, within the existing complaints mechanisms, procedures that will be available to persons who consider that they have been adversely affected by any failure on the part of the transport operator to comply with any aspect of this Sectoral Plan.

A person dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint in relation to the accessibility of public transport services provided by these companies will be entitled to appeal the outcome to the Office of the Ombudsman. Section 40 of the Disability Act 2005 relates to the application of the Ombudsman Act 1980. In this regard, it should be noted that the Ombudsman's role covers complaints about all bodies, organisations and other persons to which this Plan applies, including private passenger transport services providers.

Within each company the outcome of each complaint should be forwarded to the senior official responsible for accessibility matters who, in turn, will consider the matters complained of and, if necessary, will bring forward proposals to change the operational procedures of the company to ensure improved access to services for mobility and sensory impaired people.

The Ombudsman has underscored the importance of preventing a breakdown in communications between public bodies and their customers in dealing with complaints before those complaints reach her Office. Many complaints could and should be easily and speedily settled at a very early stage by public bodies themselves.

To ensure a degree of consistency across the transport sector in relation to the complaints procedures, the Minister will ensure that all bodies or persons to which this Sectoral Plan applies, will have in place by 31 December 2006 adequate procedures and structures to deal with complaints of alleged non-compliance with the provisions of this Sectoral Plan. In the case of private transport companies and other persons providing passenger transport services, similar procedures and structures may be established, either under the auspices of organisations representing private transport operators, or regulatory bodies with responsibility for individual passenger transport sectors or other bodies or organisations approved by the Minister.

All the procedures and structures, prepared in accordance with the above, will be published by the relevant bodies or persons and will include the following:

(a) procedures for the making and investigation of complaints and such other matters relating to complaints as are considered appropriate,

(b) the name and contact details for the person ("complaints officer") within the company, representative organisation, regulatory body or other body or organisation, to which complaints may be addressed. Complaints Officers will be responsible for the conduct of investigations in accordance with the above-mentioned procedures, and will be independent in the performance of their functions.

When drawing up procedures in accordance with the above, the relevant bodies and persons should be have regard to the The Ombudsman's Guide to Internal Complaints Systems (see Appendix 5), also available at http://www.ombudsman.ie

Procedures and structures, prepared in accordance with the above, will be required to be submitted to the Minister as soon as may be but in any case not later than 31 December 2006.

A person may make a complaint to the Ombudsman in relation to a decision of a complaints officer in relation to this Sectoral Plan. Procedures prepared in accordance with the above will make provision for informing all complainants of this right.

The decision in each complaint will be notified by the complaints officer to the appropriate person with responsibility for accessibility matters (within company, representative organisation, regulatory body or other body or organisation) who will be required to consider the matter(s) complained of and, where appropriate, bring forward proposals to ensure compliance with the complaint officer's decision, having regard to the The Ombudsman's Guide to the Provision of Redress (available at http://www.ombudsman.ie).

Each company, representative organisation, regulatory body or other body or organisation that carries out a complaints investigation function under this Plan will be required to report to the Minister annually in relation to complaints concerning alleged non-compliance with the provisions of this Plan, and the changes brought forward, or proposed, to ensure improved access to the services covered by this Plan.

Each company, representative organisation, regulatory body or other body or organisation that is required by statute to prepare and/or publish an annual report will be required to provide a yearly progress report on the implementation of this Sectoral Plan in their annual reports.

All organisations that are required to have compliance and redress procedures in place will also be required to ensure as far as practicable that information on complaints procedures is available in alternative formats to enable disabled people to access them.