Dr. Aideen Hartney:

I thank the Chair for the clarification and the Deputy for the questions. The issues the Deputy outlined relating to a specific service are the same issues that would be important in the overall decongregation of disabled people, which we spoke of earlier. What we see in our work and what the Deputy has highlighted is a divergence in policies. There is a policy that specifies a maximum number of disabled people that would live in a setting to break the congregation approach. That is different on the mental health services side and again on the older persons care side. Ideally, in realising the UNCRPD, people would be living independently in a home of their choosing - ordinary lives in ordinary places - regardless of whether they have a mental health disability or some other kind of disability. We have made that advice in our submissions and highlighted it in some of our research where we say that this is what the research shows about disability and the focus in terms of the mental health agenda also needs to be regarded. The national strategy, when it issues, will be about continuing along the journey of progressive realisation of the UNCRPD and these are points that can be highlighted over its lifetime. We will continue to include a focus on mental health in our advice but that is what I can say in general terms on that.