Ms Rosaleen Lally:

It is difficult to say because at the time we built the houses in Belmullet we owned the land. We also got some funding locally to build them and put in additional environmental controls. The project we are working on with Mayo County Council at present could be the flagship project. Once it is completed, it could definitely be replicated throughout the country. Again, the issue is that unless the guidelines and technical guidance are in the regulations and Part M is reviewed there will be inconsistencies.

We see this across the board. I recently had a meeting with representatives of a large approved housing body that had built eight houses to UD standard. When it moved the eight tenants into the houses, it discovered the houses were not wheelchair liveable for them, so it had to retrofit them and spend an awful lot more money. It could not understand because it had assumed that UD would be wheelchair liveable, and that is happening throughout the country. There is so much inconsistency and the problem is that the requirements are not built into the regulations. The only way the issue will be resolved - we can talk about projects until the cows come home - is by good examples of where it works. If we want it to be resolved throughout the country, the regulations need to be amended. That is the bottom line.