Ms Rosaleen Lally:

Concerning the UK, Part M is in the building regulations there as well and they have three categories of accessible standards in those Part M regulations. There is the visitable standard we have here. They also have lifetime adaptable homes, the next standard, which are universal design homes ready to be converted, if need be, as we grow older. Then they have the standard for fully wheelchair-liveable housing. That empowers local authorities in the UK to look at demand in their area. As planning comes in from developers, it empowers them to say they need certain percentages of wheelchair-liveable, future-proof and visitable housing. The technical guidance is there clearly in the regulations and there is no confusion. In Ireland, we only have the basic standard of wheelchair-visitable housing. For anything above that, confusion reigns across the country. Even architects do not fully understand what universal design is. Our concern is universal design is being used as the key to solving all the problems. Universal design is in the strategy and mentioned across the board. We know universal design does not meet the needs of all wheelchair users. That is another concern. The last concern is the time this will take. We are concerned it will be pushed out and pushed out. By the time a review or amendment takes place of the regulations, all the money will be spent, this huge housing boom will be over and we will be back to square one.