Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That builds on the back of the ability access programme which received funding under the then Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection three years ago. The feedback from that programme has been very positive.

During the summer, the Minister and I also met the Ombudsman, Peter Tyndall, who addressed the issue of people with a disability aged under 65 years who were living full-time in nursing homes. We are committed to addressing this in the budgetary funding provided to us. We are also looking at ways and means of working with the Department of Health and discharge co-ordinators in hospitals to see how we can integrate people in the communality rather than considering nursing homes as the first and only option.

On housing, after this meeting, I will meet the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to start a conversation on housing. We are about to embark on building large numbers of houses and it could be a missed opportunity if we do have a conservation on disability and ensure it is part and parcel of planning. Advisers tell me that when they go to purchase or reconfigure a property, objections are received. It is also considerably cheaper to build a property from the foundation up rather than to reconfigure one that has been built. We are starting a conversation with the Minister on that this evening to find a way forward.