Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank all of our guests for being here with us today. Apologies, as the Chair said, I was in the Dáil. Before I was in there, I got the opportunity to hear all of the opening statements. They were interesting and, in many ways, insightful.

I have been an active contributor on the Joint Committee on Disability Matters and, as I always say there, every time we meet witnesses and every time we hear from people with a lived experience it brings a brand new lens to the work we are doing. Therefore, I thank our guests for coming here and sharing so many different lenses with us.

I have lots of questions and lots of comments. Maybe I will start with Dr. Hartney. I liked what Dr. Hartney was talking about when it came to walkability studies and audits of streetscapes because it is a basic question to ask how do we make sure that the public realm is publicly accessible. I would like to learn a little more about them.

I was particularly struck by Dr. Hartney's phrase "meaningful engagement". That is the nub of everything. When we as Government, agencies, Departments, officials, public representatives or committees engage, we need to make sure that it is actual "meaningful engagement", that it is two-way communication, that we are hearing the feedback that we are getting and that it is not an exercise that must be undertaken. It is an exercise that should be undertaken to inform policies and to make better outcomes for people. Dr. Hartney captured that well in her opening statement.

Turning to Ms Lally and Ms Carthy, I did not realise wheelchair use was not being captured by the State. It is really interesting that there is no information on this in the census and therefore nothing in the CSO. Obviously, we know statistics and we hear them but presumably they come from DPOs working in the area. Is that something that has ever been asked? Is there resistance from the CSO to including it in the census? Is that something the IWA believes we can look at between now and the next census? We are too late for the one that has just been done but it would make total sense that we should at least be able to quantify the situation in order to ensure our policies adapt accordingly.

On the housing adaptation grants, Ms Murphy gave us some good information on that. Does she know what the most commonly drawn-down grant is used for? It will probably vary by local authority and presumably be dependent on the age of a house but it might be good information for us to know if we are to enhance those grants in any way.

Mr. Dolan has given us quite a lot of information and ideas around the national housing strategy for disabled people with respect to ensuring it is the way in which disabled people can access their right to housing. Something that has come up for me from a number of constituents is people who are working but finding it very difficult to obtain mortgages. Is that something that has ever come to his attention and has he any views on it? Those are my few questions.