Mr. Tony Cunningham:

I will start with the congregated settings element, although it is not an area with which we work directly. In terms of housing, the members of the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, are community-based. We are talking about people who could be living with their parents and their siblings who have never had the opportunity to have a home of their own due to lack of finance to purchase or build, lack of social housing, lack of available housing to rent and high renting cost. We are also talking about people who are inappropriately placed in nursing homes and hospitals, people who are homeless who are wheelchair users, and people who have a disability. These are two very different groups of people. What is common to everybody is humanity and a person's right to have a home. We all get institutionalised one way or another, be that in a large institution of 100 rooms or one's family home with one's family, but we get used to that. As a country, we have an obligation to lead and to encourage people to flourish, to become independent and to experience that which they do not necessarily know. Many of us can be sheltered within our own workspace, living environment or social environment. It is through new experiences that one builds confidence. If someone had asked me 20 years ago to attend a meeting in Leinster House to talk to this committee I would have replied, "not on your nanny", yet here I am. Experiences bring growth. The Government has to encourage growth and give people the opportunities to grow.

IWA's vision is one of Ireland being a country that would lead in terms of its inclusivity. We are not doing that. We should be ashamed in terms of the lack of housing for people with disabilities. In terms of Part 8, an approved housing body can engage with a local authority in regard to the purchase of a housing estate that is being developed that does not comprise any wheelchair accessible housing. The Irish Wheelchair Association would also like to be able to engage under Part 8 but at the design stage to acquire some units for wheelchair users through capital assistance scheme, CAS, funding. However, the design and planning stages are completed before the houses are released for purchase to the approved housing bodies or the local authorities. The local authority, with the support of the Department, will give the go-ahead for these estates because they might comprise 100 three-bedroom, semi-detached, two-storey houses that will house families. There is no sustainable community in terms of people with disabilities or older people. Anecdotally, many local authorities would have accepted the funding from the Part V obligation or a one-off house in another location. For obvious reasons, it could be two or three years before the development comes to its end. We have an immediate housing need now such that when developers offer one or two units in another location or in an apartment block, the local authorities seize the opportunity to provide somebody with housing immediately. In my view and that of the Irish Wheelchair Association, we need strategic planning at the early stages to ensure we have inclusive communities throughout Ireland. Where State funding is being used to provide housing, there must be investment in sustainable housing developments of mixed tenure. This is provided for in policy.

In preparing for this meeting, the thought crossed my mind that we could build a few houses with all of the documentation on this issue. The intent and the policies exist but early stage design is not happening. Following on from discussions with various disability organisations, we have proposed that 7% of every development be wheelchair accessible, but not wheelchair exclusive, homes. This is about the structural design being such that it caters for wheelchair users. In regard to Part V opportunities, I am sure some of them are availed of but many of them are being lost.

On personal assistance, PA, services, the IWA pre-budget submission, which I am sure members have received, calls for an additional 500,000 personal assistance hours nationally for people with disabilities to touch the need that is not being met currently. There is definitely a clear link between the two issues. In theory, it all stands up. We need houses for the personal assistants to kick in but there is no housing. It is not being designed or built and there does not appear to be any strategic planning around it. The goodwill is there but the offers are not coming out. We need both. We need the PA hours and houses. Incidentally, all of these issues are contributing to the economy. If people get their independence, they can work. Personal assistants are employees as well. All of this generates income and inclusive societies.