1.11 | United Nations

1.11 | United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The NPF notes that a significant proportion of the population will experience disability at some stage in their lives, and acknowledges the need to facilitate independent living, access, and mobility in relation to buildings and the environment, and full integration with society generally for people with disabilities, including access to employment. Transport accessibility is a crucial element of facilitating access to and integration with wider society for people with disabilities.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations Member States, including Ireland, in 2015. At its heart are 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Appropriate development of transport infrastructure can be a powerful means of achieving some of the Sustainable Development Goals, such as ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing; making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth; and taking urgent action to combat climate change. As part of Project Ireland 2040, there is already significant alignment between the National Strategic Outcomes and the Sustainable

The NPF observes that there is significant similarity in many of the planning related issues that are most impactful for people with disabilities and for older people, and it is likely that transport accessibility will become increasingly important in the coming years as our population ages. Given this, it is crucial that our transport infrastructure

National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland | Overview

be accessible by design to empower independent travel by users with a variety of different mobility requirements.

inclusion, and key environmental policies and plans such as the Climate Action Plan, National Air Pollution Control Programme, Clean Air Strategy, National Biodiversity Action Plan and All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.

New technologies have the potential to revolutionise everyday journeys for groups with reduced access to transport and there is widespread innovation taking place in areas across the transport sector, from self-driving cars designed to be accessible to people with disabilities to applications designed to support accessibility, such as by helping people with vision impairments navigate public transport stations using audio technology, to the development of artificial intelligence software that uses existing closed circuit television cameras to automatically identify and report incidents of concern on public transport, helping service users feel safe after dark. Transport investment must be flexible and adaptive enough to exploit the opportunities provided by emerging technologies as they develop, and indeed to foster and support native innovation in this space. 1.13 | Conclusion