Mr. Patrick O'Sullivan:

The Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been engaging intensively with us on the implementation plan. He has recently approved that plan so we can engage externally with his colleagues, the Minister for Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for disability. The Minister expects to be in a position to have that plan published within the next number of weeks.

As regards universal design, and the Leas-Chathaoirleach mentioned UD++, there are different ranges, namely, UD, UD+ and UD++. When we move into the realms of UD++, we are essentially talking about, for example, a wheelchair-livable property. That means, if the property is two-storey, it can be accessed in its entirety. In the case of UD++, we are talking about a case-by-case assessment and building the house to that specification, or adapting a house as necessary, because the entire population does not need that standard. I recognise what the Leas-Chathaoirleach is saying in the context of building to UD standards but there are obviously costs involved in that. We have to strike a right balance in not reducing the delivery of housing generally, in particular to the disabled community. That is why the current approach is to integrate the UD principles and move it to the extent possible. Over time, we will come to a position where houses will be built for life, but it will not happen overnight. It will take time.