Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Yes. Major issues arise in respect of therapies, set-ups concerning school, employment and all the rest of it, and some of these obviously relate to the CCMA. However, in fairness, the CCMA has got a couple of easy wins that would be easy to operate throughout the system. That would be better. It is a matter of what is proposed becoming the norm for people using library services. When it becomes normal, people become aware in other settings. It is about people themselves – never mind funding, building and grant schemes – providing the reasonable accommodation that makes society a better place. That is obviously to be welcomed. We all get the idea of universal design. It relates to everything from building right through to how we set up structures. It is a case of ensuring we achieve it as best we can.

I will follow up on what Deputy Tully said about housing. I agree with what has been said in that, if we are talking about adaptation grants and so on, we are generally talking about the best-case scenario, whereby people face a waiting period of 12 or 18 months, or even longer. We had issues recently with the housing assistance payment in that the council put people on secondary lists or removed them from lists on the basis of what they got previously. We all know there is a funding difficulty and several other difficulties. I recently met the social worker and others responsible for those dealing with those with extra needs and all the rest of it. I understand that a lot gets thrown on the councils, including in respect of estate management and everybody being on their books, even those with issues that may relate to mental illness and addiction. At times, I have a difficulty with the matrices related to people accessing housing not being addressed, but I accept that the councils do not have the wherewithal to deal with all these issues. That is why there are issues that relate to the HSE and other organisations. This needs to be examined holistically.

We have seen cases of small projects that have been good and worthwhile. We have moved to decongregated settings. In fairness, families in Ireland have done the heavy lifting and have probably kept a lot of weight off the State. We have all encountered issues associated with people living longer. Very old parents may be responsible for a child with very specific needs that persist throughout life. Obviously, they should be able to access council housing, but it goes even beyond that in that we need to create more spaces, be it through assisted living or more protected places. I can think of many streets in my town where people with additional needs may have particular difficulties. These could relate to one family on a street. The current position is not acceptable. We have to consider the reality of the world we live in and ensure that what I propose is at play. That is accepting that, regarding housing, we are like the guy in Kerry who, when giving directions, states, “I would not start from here if I were you.” I would like the guests to elaborate on the issues associated with local authorities trying to facilitate those with additional needs. It is not only about funding streams but also about the required additional resources that are not necessarily in place. Sometimes it is down to outlier parents and advocate groups that have put projects in play. At times, they have accessed funding from the HSE or another body, and we ended up getting shared housing units. However, our level of supply is nowhere near what is needed as regards disabilities.

I could spend an hour talking about adaptation grants and how they do not cut the mustard regarding the needs of certain families. Sometimes we have planning constraints whereby, even if the supports are sanctioned, a house cannot necessarily be changed because its structure is not suitable. We probably need more free-flow with councils and other bodies but I accept this cannot be achieved without resources. That is a sufficient amount to deal with.