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Support for Blind Rail Users Needed

People with a vision impairment and their supporters are poised to send hundreds of texts to the press officer of Irish Rail to highlight that they are not happy with the persistent poor quality or lack of audible announcements on Irish trains including the Sligo-Dublin service.

The organisers claim that the texts will flood the inboxes of Barry Kenny - Manager of Corporate Communications, Iarnród Éireann and Jane Cregan - Corporate Communications Executive, Iarnród Éireann with a message loud and clear that they will not stand for this situation.

Kerie Doyle, who is a totally blind  rail user said, "People with a vision impairment are forced to rely on other passengers to assist them when the audio announcements fail."

She  continued "I have had a recent incident where I was put in danger by the inadvertent actions of  another passenger who informed me that I was at Tara street  Station, when I was actually at Pearse Street Station."  While I have no doubt that the intentions of this passenger were good the lack of audible announcements does leave people with a vision impairment in the hands of other people."

Tim Culhane outlined  the difficulties caused to him as a person with a vision impairment.

"When travelling by train you can never be sure that audible announcements of the next station or the destination of the train will be available.  Even when they are available they can be out of sync with the actual station you are arriving at or the sound quality is so poor that they are impossible to hear.  As a result, you have to keep track in your mind of where you are at all times, assuming of course that you are familiar with the order of stations."

Martin O'Sullivan stated, "This is a very similar situation to what happened in Dublin during the first half of 2005, when people with a vision impairment were forced to protest the  switch off of the audible crossings by Dublin city Council.  After a large protest took place outside Dublin City hall during the election of the mayor, Dublin City Council were forced to turn back on the audible crossings.

Mr O'Sullivan added, "We are calling on members of the public to support us in this campaign and send texts as well, we have two recommended texts which we would like people to send.

We would like persons without  a vision impairment including TDs and senators  to send the following suggested text

"Hello my name is [enter your name here], I am supporting the campaign by persons with vision impairment.  I am contacting you to highlight the lack of audible announcements  on both dart and intercity rail services.  I would also like to point out that audible  announcements are of a grate value to our tourist industry.  I would be most grateful if you could give me an exact date and time when this problem will be resolved.  I would like to hear from you as soon as possible."

We would like persons with a vision impairment to send the following suggested text;

"Hello my name is [enter your name here], I am a person with a vision impairment.  I am contacting you to highlight the lack of audible announcements  on both dart and intercity rail services.  I would also like to point out that audible announcements are of a grate value to our tourist industry.  I would be most grateful if you could give me an exact date and time when this problem will be resolved.  I would like to hear from you as soon as possible."

The telephone numbers for people to send the text are 0872381224 and 0868531098

An event has been set up on Facebook which people can indicate their intention to send a text to Irish rail as well.