Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 30 March 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters

Housing Policy and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

Photo of Cathal CroweCathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to do that. I want to raise the point about the location of housing for people mainly with intellectual disabilities. There seems to be a trend around large houses at the edge of a village or a town, which are typically former bed and breakfasts that have ceased trading. One sees this regularly in county towns. There is an eight or ten-bedroom unit at the edge of a town or village, which nobody wants to buy because no family has a use for a property of that size. Quite typically, a section 39 organisation, such as Brothers of Charity or RehabCare, snaps up these properties. They are usually available at a competitive price. They become a site for sheltered accommodation for people with intellectual disabilities. I do not necessarily think they are in the right location and we really need to look at this.

There is a fabulous facility being planned for Ruan in north County Clare, which is a wonderful village. It is a village I, and many people in Clare, would love to live in. However, we have to ask whether it is best positioned for someone with an intellectual disability to have the highest level of independence he or she yearns for. I have someone quite close to me who has an intellectual disability. Someone with an intellectual disability needs to be able, at several times of the day, to walk out the door, go to local shops and access services, and go on local transport. Sometimes these former bed and breakfast properties which are being snapped up are not best fitted for the needs of those people.

My last point relates to locations. I refer to many of the units identified as housing for people with intellectual and physical disabilities, and the ancillary infrastructure around them. The Minister of State has already identified inadequacies in terms of footpaths etc. There must be metrics other than price and proximity to the edge of a town or village that can be looked at. We must look holistically at what a house has to offer in terms of overall accessibility and its usefulness to the person staying in it in terms of the quality of his or her everyday life.

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