Mr. Eoin O'Herlihy:

I thank the Chair and Deputy Cairns. Building on comments from Ms Egan and others concerning how we can look at updating the regulations and guidance, the first thing would be recognising the importance of consultation and identifying the barriers faced by people with disabilities. That would be based on the guidance document in place now. It would then be necessary, and important, to review the guidance in line with international good practice to address universal design, again building on what Ms Egan said previously.

In addition, when we are revising the guidelines, we must move away from just having visitable housing. We must think about adaptable housing and housing which is fully wheelchair accessible. In turn, that process would lead to a revision of the planning policy and frameworks governing how we are going to implement changes and ensure that we have sufficient adaptable or wheelchair-accessible housing in Cork, Galway, Limerick etc. This undertaking is not just about revising the technical guidance and updating the building regulations. We must also look at the entire surrounding planning policy and frameworks as well.

We must also examine aspects such as training and awareness. How are we going to roll out national training and awareness to ensure that this programme is rolled out effectively? Then, we must also look at things like monitoring and enforcement to ensure that we are getting housing which is fully accessible. This is a process, therefore, but it is also about updating the technical guidance documents and regulations in line with international good practice. Without the process being in place as well, however, we will just end up updating our guidance. This point is relevant to the changing places campaign, but also to the issue of accessible housing.