Ms Niamh O'Shea:

On the point about the housing adaptation grant, one of the biggest challenges we are facing at the minute in north Cork, where I am the manager of the children's services, is that many of our families are in rented accommodation and their houses require significant modification. However, it is obviously the landlord's purview as to whether these changes can take place. Some sort of assistance for families in rented accommodation is needed. I would say I have about 20 children who are being lifted upstairs to go to their bedrooms or to use the toilet. Some of those children would be independent if they had access to a stairlift or some other accommodations. Even aside from the rental issue, the process of the housing adaptation grant, as was said, varies significantly from one place to another. The process is complicated. I think the maximum annual income for the household has to be less than €30,000, if a person is going to get the majority of the funding. We had one family that was struggling to put food on the table. The mother had two young adults with autism. Her application for a downstairs sensory facility was rejected because one of her sons was working part-time in SuperValu two days a week and that increased the family's income threshold, which was just ridiculous. That needs to be looked at as well.