Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Some of this has been touched on by previous speakers around housing but just to make the point that since the UNCRPD was ratified it is down to every Government Department, local authority and agency to implement it. Part of the UNCRPD involves consultation with disabled people and their organisations, which are DPOs and not service providers. That has to be proper engagement and not what Ms Grehan alluded to - and I have heard that before from other people - where they are consulted by Government organisations but their recommendations are just ignored; that cannot happen. It has to be proper engagement and DPOs have to be supported to engage properly in that.

Senator Clonan spoke about housing and I know last year that Cavan County Council, the county I am from, issued a list of the number of people on the housing list and the length of time they are on the list. They did not identify the people obviously but there were a number of people on the list for ten plus years and all of them were disabled people, so disabled people are being discriminated against. When I brought this up with the county council it told me that it is willing to put the houses in place and do the alterations needed. However, many of these people have complex disabilities and they are claiming that the HSE was not able or ready at that stage to come in and give the support a person needed to live independently. That is what the county council is saying but the HSE is sometimes saying the opposite when we need to see Government agencies working together. Is there any improvement in that area under the new strategy Housing for All and the housing and disability steering groups? Are we seeing better co-operation between the different Government agencies, the local authorities, the HSE and others to ensure that disabled people can live independently in their communities? I am also conscious that it is not just about accessible housing, the environment has to be accessible as well and everything has to be universally designed. We need transport options and for different agencies to come on board and work together to ensure people can live independently.