Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 25, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “ “accessibility impact assessment” means an assessment to ensure that development must comply with Article 4 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;”.

If these amendments are accepted, it would effectively mean that where, under section 203, an environmental impact assessment, EIA, is required, an accessibility impact assessment, AIA, would also be required. That is what these amendments seek to do.

It is very disappointing to see the lack of disability-proofing in the Planning and Development Bill 2023. Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, in 2018. The convention states that policies and, by extension, legislation should be disability proofed and that built environments should be accessible to all. There are no disability-proofing provisions in the Planning and Development Act 2000. As a result, several people have faced the consequences of bad planning. Such planning has led to their being excluded. This disablement through design means that they find themselves excluded from their own communities. Currently, plans must have EIAs, which rightly look at the effects a development might have on the natural world. However, there is no equivalent look at the impact a plan might have on the accessibility of local areas amenities. The isolation of disabled people is leading to a deterioration in their physical and mental health and well-being.

The Planning and Development Bill is a golden opportunity for the State to implement key aspects of the UNCRPD. It is inexcusable that the Bill should lack a form of disability-proofing. My amendments would require the carrying out of an AIA wherever an EIA is required. This would ensure that the built environment would facilitate disabled people to live dignified lives in their own communities.

Bad planning can affect disabled people, and this can be widespread and systematic. Through my work as a public representative, I have seen the challenges that disabled people face in the context of their housing needs. There is a huge challenge at the moment in the private rental sector. That is affecting people generally, but the impact of it can be more pronounced for people who are disabled in accessing accommodation. A significant number of disabled people who are under the age of 65 and who are far too young to be doing so are living in nursing homes. This is completely inappropriate. Those residential settings do not meet their needs. This is an emergency measure, and it really is an affront to those people's human rights. According to the HSE, 1,128 disabled people under the age of 65 are living in nursing homes. That obviously affects their health and well-being, their social lives, their independence and everything else. That has profound effects on people that they should not be facing. I refer to poor design and a lack of housing that is universally accessible. All these things have impacted disabled people.

I have tabled these amendments to try to ensure that there is compliance with our obligations under the UNCRPD, but also to ensure that there is proper disability-proofing in this legislation.