Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late, but I was at the housing committee next door. There is a great deal of synergy between it and this discussion.

I thank the witnesses for attending. It is people's lived experience and the experience of organisations working on the ground that inform this committee. I wish to put on the record my thanks for, and recognition of, the work of Peamount Healthcare and Stewarts Care in my constituency. They have helped many people to move into and live successfully in supported independent accommodation within communities. They have also used Government funding to invest in upgrading their living settings to make them fit for today's standards in terms of congregation.

I was struck by what Ms O'Connell said about people who acquired disabilities. A young man in my community acquired a life-changing injury after a mountain biking accident. He is one of many people who is unnecessarily still in hospital or rehab and going from one to the other without making progress in their recovery because councils do not have fully accessible accommodation for them to move into. They are taking up much-needed beds in hospital. More importantly, they are unnecessarily going backwards in their journeys and their lives are on pause for longer than they need to be. I thank Acquired Brain Injury Ireland for its work with people in this regard, but the Government and local authorities must face up to this reality and invest in providing accommodation to younger people in such situations as well as those who have had disabilities their whole lives and need to move into supported living.

I was at the Sallymills development in Clondalkin this week. It will open in the coming weeks and provide 85 apartments in the heart of Clondalkin. Through Clúid, these apartments will be step-down accommodation for over-55s. It is plus plus design and is fully accessible. It was incredible to see. The development primarily consists of fabulous one-bedroom apartments with beautiful views of the Clondalkin round tower and is in the centre of the village. There are also some two-bedroom apartments so that the carers of those who require 24-7 care can be accommodated on site. The development was fantastic to see. It is being built by the Europlan Group in collaboration with Clúid and South Dublin County Council. I understand the Europlan Group is looking to do something similar in Cork.

This is the way forward, but such developments should not be limited to over-55s. We need to provide that level of accommodation to younger people who want to have a life and not a service, to paraphrase Ms McDonagh. We need to invest in that.

I would be very much encouraged to hear our guests' views on that and how we make that a reality and future-proof both our planning system and the resources we are allocating. When one thinks of the hospital bed which is allocated to somebody who does not need it and we have a vacant property which is allocated to nobody, when people could be transforming their lives if they had an opportunity; how do we unlock that service? I am keen to hear our guests' expert advice on that?