Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will make two brief follow-up points, the first of which has to do with something I did not get a chance to mention. I am concerned at the idea of it taking a year to arrive at a definition of "personal assistance". According to everyone we have heard from, it is one of the most crucial elements. We should aim for a definition by June. Will the witnesses clarify whether disabled persons organisations, DPOs, and those who use personal assistants will be central to any definition if a more formalised approach to personal assistance is taken? I sometimes worry because so many of these services are contracted out. We have seen in home care that people are contracted out to perform certain tasks and roles. It is important that the discretion and empowerment component of personal assistance and home care be in place and that we not end up with a contract being issued for this volume of services or those kinds of task. Will the witnesses comment on their plans to ensure that DPOs are central to any formalisation of the definition of "personal assistance"? That would be useful.

I will make a final point to the Minister of State. I appreciate her comments on the national development plan. The housing element is very much focused on new housing but people with disabilities can also be renters. I will press this issue with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, this week. I hope that the Minister of State will follow up on it in a different way, though. Where people who are renting need to make adaptations to their homes, they should not lose their security of tenure. We should push for the adaptation and retrofitting of homes to be a combination deal in order that people can retrofit for the environment and universal design at the same time, as it makes sense that this option should be offered to people. We know that people are sometimes afraid to seek adaptations of their dwellings because they are concerned it will lead to them losing their security of tenure. This is a practical issue and I do not need it to be addressed now. I only wished to highlight it.