8th October 2005

Dear Chairperson,
I refer to a letter I received from the Pastoral Council Dated 17th October 2003. It was stated that the work I requested will be undertaken, as far as possible, to my satisfaction.
I appreciate your concern in relation to the elderly and infirm, and this will be increased when St. Dominick’s Home will be up and running. So what I would propose for the area outside the north door of the church, is to make it a “Drop- off point”.
They should be always positioned as close as possible to entrance. Passengers with impaired mobility often move slowly and therefore are vulnerable in bad weather. They also benefit from having direct access to the church entrance. Alighting from a specially designed vehicle generally involves using a portable ramp extending maximum 2000mm from the vehicle.
The two disabled parking bays can be situated immediate inside the entrance to the church grounds as suggested to Padraig Murray, when I met with him on the 15th May 2003. Any transactions can be seen by motorists as they are about to enter the grounds.
With an appropriate sign”2200mmm” from ground level, such bays would be clearly visible to motorists. Disabled parking bays should only be used by disabled drivers displaying an European” Disabled Persons Parking Card”.
There is a myth with so called experts, when asked to provide disabled parking bays to assemble them away in the corner. The true expert is the disabled driver and as I myself is wheelchair bound for almost 25 years, I feel qualified to answer any problems that effects the disabled, because:
“Good Designs Enables”
“Bad Designs Disables”
With Kind Regards,
Yours sincerely,

____________________
Tom Chambers,
Disability Campaigner,
“The Billy Ranch”,
Knocknageeha,
Newport,
Co. Mayo.