Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The last point Ms Magahy made in her presentation was on age-friendly homes. The question we all ask is whether they are being built. There was little talk on the role of local authorities. It is the basic things that people in hospitals need, such as a ramp, a door widened, a shower, a possible extension and so on. This is where the joined-up thinking comes in, so people do not have to wait three months for a ramp and even longer for a shower or an extension. One could be waiting years for a lift to get someone up and down the stairs.

We have been dealing with elected representatives and in many cases, people are only getting these when they are at end of life. They are not getting the opportunity. We need champions on that. That is all part of Ms Magahy's work, but I do not believe we are building these age-friendly homes and what has been thrown up throughout this city and many parts of Ireland is not age-friendly and we are not building for the future, we are building for speculators and others, certainly not long-term investment in our population.