Ms Rosaleen Lally:

I will answer some of those questions. The Deputy asked about the availability of accessible liveable homes in local authorities and on the private market. The simple answer is that the supply is not there. We did a project during the week using daft.ieto see what wheelchair liveable houses are available. We are delighted to see a filter on Daft to search for wheelchair accessible houses and I will go through some examples, of which there were quite a few available. In Cork, there are nine properties available to rent, including six two-storey houses, two small apartments and one large apartment that costs €2,000 a month to rent. The six two-storey houses and the small apartments are not wheelchair liveable. There were 24 houses available to buy in Cork advertised as wheelchair liveable houses. They include 21 two-storey houses that are not wheelchair liveable, one bungalow at €300,000, and two small apartments that are not wheelchair liveable. When we looked at photographs of the houses, it was apparent they were not wheelchair liveable. The situation is similar in Cork city. Two apartments were listed as wheelchair accessible for rent at present for €2,485 and €3,485 per month. There are ten houses available to buy, including seven two-storey houses that are not wheelchair liveable. There is one ground floor apartment with steps up to the front door that is advertised as wheelchair accessible. The shower is over the bath which is not wheelchair liveable.

I could go through the whole list across the country. Members know this is happening in their own counties. It is not the fault of daft.ie,, the seller or the buyer. It is the fault of the building regulations because they do not provide guidance for wheelchair liveable houses. The basic necessity should be that they are wheelchair liveable, meaning a wheelchair can get in the front door. People might say a house is wheelchair accessible when in fact it is not. Every area must be accessible to wheelchair users. If a mother is in a wheelchair, she needs to be able to get into the house, go into her kitchen and cook her children's dinner, get into the utility to do the washing, and get into all the bedrooms just like any mother would. If people here - God forbid - had to use a wheelchair tomorrow morning, would they be able to live in the house they live in today? I would not be able to. I would probably have to put a bed into the living room, which happens in many cases. For permanent wheelchair users, houses are not designed to be wheelchair liveable and we need to change that. We need a review of the building regulations so that there is a stock of wheelchair liveable houses available in local authorities and the private sector to provide people with choices. I will hand over to Mr. O'Herlihy to answer some of the Deputy's other questions.