Dr. Aideen Hartney:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. I echo Ms Dempsey-Clifford's point on resources within the Department. Even though it has significant numbers of personnel now, following the transfer of functions from the Department of Health, many of those people are looking after specialist disability services whereas what we are talking about in the development of the strategy is a more policy-facing role. More resources and focus there would be helpful.

On the local authorities question, one of the barriers is the fact that there are 31 local authorities and, therefore, 31 approaches and often 31 ways of acting. We feel there should be some improved co-ordination between those bodies and upwards through the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, and on to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. One of the gaps we identified in our assessments of the national disability inclusion strategy was that it was very difficult to get updates on progress or on actions that local authorities would be charged with delivering. Building in some of those mechanisms at the start of a new strategy would be very helpful. We know that in some local authority areas there are public participation networks whose membership would include disabled people and other marginalised communities within that area. They seem to work very effectively at local level so there is probably learning that could be captured there and brought to bear on the new strategy.

I will start on the decongregation question and then bring in Dr. Tamming. It has been slow, and slower than hoped, for a number of years. There are numerous barriers, one of which is access to housing in a suitable place within a community, where there is access to the community and to transport links. Such housing must be capable of being adapted to meet the needs of people, many of whom have very high support needs. That is a real issue. Indeed, housing is an issue for the entire country.

It also takes time to effect decongregation in a properly person-centred way, in which people are given the time and space to consider new living arrangements, with whom they might wish to live and what configuration that would take. This is a challenge. We also hear anecdotally about some outdated attitudes from family members or staff who feel moving to the community is not the right move for their loved one and this can slow the process considerably.