Mr. Peter Gohery:

I thank the Deputy for her questions. I heard her say she is a member of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I would love for every new house in Ireland to be disability-proofed. There should be no more commitment to disability-proofing only 10% or 15% of new houses. I was in the building game and know what it is going on. It is not costing anything extra to disability-proof a house from the start. The enormous costs arise when we go back in to adapt a house after it is built. Listening to the radio on my way to Leinster House today was disheartening. The amount of money that has been handed back is disgraceful. We have received calls from people in different counties looking for adaptations to their houses but the councils are telling them they have no money to do so for the rest of the year.