Ms Rosaleen Lally:

I have a comment, although Mr. O'Herlihy probably covered the point. We are building the "Think Ahead, Think Housing" campaign and calling for 7% of all houses to be wheelchair accessible and the rest of all houses, public and private, to be lifetime adaptable houses. Perhaps in Dublin there may be a need for a higher percentage but as a baseline we are calling for 7%. In Belmullet someone might not have the same need as in Dublin. There would be a balance across the board but this goes to the rolling stock and providing people with a choice as to where they want to live.

I have a quick example. A lady we work with in Belmullet is lucky enough to live in one of our wheelchair-accessible houses. She loves going to Dublin a couple of times a year to visit her sister, nieces and nephews. She leaves here at 6 a.m. and a personal assistant brings her to the train in Castlebar. When she arrives in Dublin she meets the wheelchair-accessible taxi that she has booked because she is really organised. That brings her to her sister's house. As a result of the Part M regulations introduced some years ago, she can come into the house, visit her sister, have a cup of tea and play with the kids. She then has to book into a hotel or stay at the IWA Carmel Fallon Centre, which she often does. She cannot stay with her sister or have that holiday experience of having her nieces and nephews coming into her bedroom when she wakes up. That is a human right and it is not good enough that she cannot experience it.