Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I had to leave the meeting to attend an event relating to young carers. It is all related to people with disabilities and not getting enough supports, whether that is in the home, school or the workplace.

I missed part of the engagement but when I came in my colleague Deputy Ó Murchú was talking about adapting houses and the cost differential between a house that is universally designed and a house that has to be adapted. I was given a figure some time ago for an average of around €13,000 to €15,000 versus €50,000. If a house was built to a universal design in the first place it would cost, on average, an additional €13,000 or €14,000 but if it has to be adapted it could cost €50,000. It seems to make economic sense for houses, or a certain number of them at least, to be built to UD++ standards. A lot of houses are only wheelchair-visitable and they need to be wheelchair-livable. Autistic people have different needs as well. It is about being more open-minded about the design of houses and ensuring a certain percentage are built to accommodate people who have mobility issues or people who have autism or an intellectual disability. It is something we need to move towards. We could all end up with mobility issues as we age and we do not know when we are going to have an accident or whatever so we should keep that in mind.