International Day of Persons with Disabilities
03 December 2025
Iarnród Éireann marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities as part of its ongoing commitment to support customers with additional needs
Today is UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities. This is a day to recognise people living with all kinds of disabilities, both visible and hidden. It is estimated that one billion people worldwide are living with disabilities, which can impact on their day to day lives and places barriers to inclusion in modern day society.
The aim of International Day of Persons with Disabilities is to promote the empowerment and help create opportunities for people living with a disability.
Following on from previous years, the Athlone Viaduct and Heuston station will be lit up in purple in support of the annual #PurpleLights campaign, a celebration of UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Initiatives undertaken by Iarnród Éireann to support customers with disabilities:
Accessibility Assists
- 59,000 assists to date this year – 52,000 total in 2024
Training
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive since the start of training last January:
- 4.9/5 – rating of the importance of Access Ambassadors to the success of the programme
- 9.5/10 – likelihood of recommending the course to a colleague
Some representative comments include:
- “My awareness of how much people with disability are capable of, that I'm there to enhance their independence.”
- “A journey for someone with a disability can be a scary thing and we all have the power to make it a nicer experience!!!”
- “The Access Ambassadors are the key to this programme – makes the training real, not just theoretical.”
Accessibility Newsletter
- Quarterly newsletter on Iarnród Eireann updates to key advocates, organisations, and groups.
Sensory Packs
- 1800 distributed in 2025
Jam Card
- 1300 staff trained
Disability User Group
- Assist with decision making from design phase
Coming in 2026
Customer Accessibility App
- The Customer Accessibility Solution is intended to streamline the process by which Iarnród Éireann receives, fulfils, and reports on ‘customer assistance’ requests. This will make it easier for customers to book assistance and for staff to fulfil the assitance request
Sensory Pod
- Pilot at Kent station from December
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26 November 2025