Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank everybody for their contributions. I was present for the opening remarks but I had to go to the Dáil Chamber and have just been back for ten minutes. It is interesting for me, with my background in construction and quantity surveying, to hear the contributions. I was taken by Mr. Cunningham's comment that it is easier to build it right first rather than having to retrofit or adapt a building. That is for sure as the cost of redoing something is probably three times that of doing it properly first time around.

The Part M regulations are not ensuring we can deliver wheelchair-accessible homes for people. When I was involved in building social housing over the years, a house on an estate might be done differently by lowering kitchen units and sockets would be put in a particular level. This is going back some time. That might happen in one house in 50 or 60 and all other houses we built in the standard way. The Part M provisions have moved but they have not moved fully. The witnesses referred to 7% of properties being wheelchair accessible and all houses being adaptable but will they elaborate on what they mean by "adaptable"? Perhaps they have done so but I just wanted to get a feel for that point.