Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Housing Provision for Older People: Discussion

Dr. Nat O'Connor:

I might just speak on the universal design aspect. The Senator hit the nail on the head. It is not about where people live; it is about them being able to visit their relatives and being able to get out and about and meet people. This is what we mean by a rights-based approach to housing and planning - that the older person or anybody who has a disability is the rights bearer and we should think in terms of removing any barriers to him or her living the same kind of life we all enjoy in terms of being able to go and visit anyone in any home. That is absolutely what we would like to see in terms of universal design. We have achieved great things in terms of recently-built housing, in terms of its BER rating of A, because of nearly zero energy building, NZEB, housing. We should be able to do the same with universal design and simply raising the bar in the quality standard.