Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are no clear metrics regarding how we are evaluating success. The Departments are working on them but there is no "this is what we want. This is how we are going to get there". I will stay with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Mr. O'Sullivan said very clearly that we have the Housing for All strategy.

There is a whole part of that dealing with housing for people with disabilities. I have seen in some housing strategies for local authorities that disabled persons' housing is in with elderly persons' housing. It is a specific part that is special and is not in with the housing of the general population. Clann is doing great work in putting elderly housing in with the general population, but I do not see it in local authority housing. I have seen a few examples of that. What are the Departments doing to make sure housing is inclusive and accessible for everybody, as opposed to this estate being for people with disabilities, that one being for people who are elderly, having people in little boxes and not being inclusive?

I have raised a particular matter question many times at this committee and elsewhere. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is in charge of local authorities. I have highlighted over and over that there are staff in local authorities who are not getting access to reasonable accommodation because management in those authorities state that reasonable accommodation needs a business case and that the relevant staff member has to write down why they are worth an investment. If they do not reach the imaginary bar management puts up, they do not get a reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodation should be accessible to everybody, as opposed to just the private sector. We should not have discrimination in our public sector. It is not the same for every local authority and Department, but it comes down to personality and to who the line manager is. That cruelty should end quick smart.

Our local authorities are the first port of call for inclusive communities. We see time and again that we do not have clear policies on accessible public realm projects, such as playgrounds. Investments in really good playgrounds are not 100% inclusive and accessible. We do not have mandatory Changing Places toilets. At the stroke of a pen, the Department could dictate that local authorities must put these in place if they are upgrading facilities. If upgrading a playground, for example, they would have to do that. In the long term, this would result in a cost saving and would be a beneficial way to spend money.

On social welfare, there are reasonable accommodation grants but not one cent was drawn down from the employee retention grant in 2019, 2020 or 2021. There is talk of review of schemes and surely three years in a row without drawdown requires an immediate response. There is something wrong with that grant; it is not working. Does the Department ever look at the outcomes for recipients of grants? Does it look at the rigidity of those grants? In reality, they place people in perpetual poverty. Emilie Conway is discouraged from taking up grants, to value her work or to put herself where she wants to be, because it will be taken off her disability allowance or whatever. People end up unable to afford to work.

In enterprise, there are no specific supports for self-employed people with disabilities. There is no fund. The Government and State have recognised there is a huge cost to disability. There are grants for entrepreneurs but there is no grant to acknowledge that it is very difficult for someone with a disability to get a leg up. It is about equity in the system instead of equality.