Council chiefs have admitted that a section of the recently refurbished Dun Laoghaire Baths remains inaccessible to wheelchair users – but they plan to rectify it this year.
It comes as a disabled man revealed to the Irish Mirror how parts of the upgraded €18million baths are “beyond inaccessible” to him. Sean O’Kelly, who has spina bifida, said he was left shocked after visiting the reopened site on Monday.
The 30-year-old, from Dalkey, told how he made a few attempts to go up a ramp at the baths by himself but said it was “impossible” without needing assistance, and said he was terrified when he had to go back down. However, a spokesperson for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Co Council said that while a section at the lower level of the baths is not fully accessible yet, this will be rectified during the second phase of the refurbishment.
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The spokesperson added that due to the complexity of the overall project, it was divided into two phases, with the upgrading of walkways being postponed to the second phase. They said: “This second phase already has planning permission, and tender documents are currently being prepared which will allow for construction of this part of the project to commence.
“The site that is now open consists of facilities at street level, mid-level and a lower level amphitheatre. The street level and the mid-level areas are fully accessible, and comply with Part M standards.”
They added: “The lower level is not fully accessible yet. A temporary ramp has been put in place to provide some level of access to this area.
“But the Council acknowledges this ramp is steep in places, and that the lower level is not accessible for some. This will be rectified once Phase 2 of the overall project has been completed.
“This phase includes the provision of ramps to the lower level of the Baths site which are fully accessible and fully Part M compliant.”
Meanwhile, Mr O’Kelly said the difficulties he had in getting up and down the ramp had ruined what he hoped would be a nice day out at the Baths. He explained: “I was dying to get out of there.
“There are very, very few places that I have experienced where I’ve been dying to get out of because of the inaccessibility and the Dun Laoghaire baths were one of those places.
“I didn’t fully appreciate how steep it was until I went and saw it for myself. I made a few attempts to get up but I really just couldn’t. Going down it, I was terrified, it was the equivalent of going on black slope skis, that’s honestly what it was like.”
Bernard Mulvany, co-founder of Access For All, highlighted the issue on his Twitter account after he visited the Baths on Monday with his 12-year-old daughter who uses a wheelchair, saying it was very upsetting. Bernard also said older people were also struggling with how steep the incline is at the lower section.
He said: “My little girl is a full-time wheelchair user, she’s always been in a wheelchair and she’s fairly adept at
using it but there’s no way that she can traverse the ramps that were there on Monday.
“There’s just no way that she can go there on her own if she wants to go there with her friends. She couldn’t be independent there, it’s just impossible. It’s too steep. As a parent, I found it upsetting and frustrating.”
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