Mr. Eoin O'Herlihy:

The Deputy asked about increasing the grant and there is definitely a need to increase it in the short term.

The long-term goal is to ensure we have sufficient supply of adaptable or fully accessible houses in Ireland. That is the main goal. It would eliminate the need for so many people to be applying for the grant.

One thing to be mindful of is that retrofitting a house may suit one person but, as Ms Egan said, people may have different requirements in the design of their houses. It would, for example, be different for someone who is ambulant compared to someone who is in a wheelchair. That is important.

The Deputy asked about the difference between an adaptable and a wheelchair-accessible house. Adaptable houses are sometimes called lifetime homes. They allow people to stay in their homes as they age and acquire a disability. The whole idea of a lifetime home is that it is easily adapted to meet the changing needs of someone as they go through life. When the house is being built, for example, it would be important to ensure that one of the downstairs rooms has plumbing so it could be easily changed from a living room to an accessible bedroom. Another approach might be to design a storage area within the house where a platform lift could be put in. That is important. Lifetime homes may not be easily adapted to become fully wheelchair accessible but they would offer people a choice to move into a house they could easily adapt to meet their needs as they age or acquire a disability and so on.