Tom Clonan (Independent)
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I will turn to the overall aims and objectives of the Department. The people spoke definitively in the care referendum on Article 42B of the Constitution. The result of the referendum says to me that the Irish people recognise that disabled citizens have a right to live in their own homes, away from the birth family unit. To that end, Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities specifically sets out that disabled citizens should, on reaching the age of 18, automatically have access to a fully accessible housing unit and a care package to go with it to allow them to live independently in this State and to participate in the socioeconomic and political life of the State away from family, just as any other adult would.

I was contacted last year by a young German woman, Ms Evelyne Cynk, who was the subject of much media coverage and who lives in Schleswig-Holstein, one of the federal states of Germany. The way it works there, as it does in many European Union states, is that once you come on the radar because of a diagnosis that you have some sort of disability, you are registered with the relevant health authority. When you turn 18, the local authority, or the equivalent thereof, has a fully accessible housing unit ready for you to move into. It also very often provides a care package that applies 24-7 and 365 days per year to go with it to allow you to live independently. The Taoiseach promised he would fully ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities including the optional protocol. That would place the obligation on us. What is the time horizon for us to arrive at that situation? Perhaps that is a question for the Minister of State's officials. Does the Department have a target date for when disabled citizens in Ireland who reach the age of majority, 18 years old, will have automatic access to a fully accessible housing unit? What is the ambition in that regard?

My other question relates to a matter to which the Minister of State referred briefly. It would appear to be the case that some local authorities will consider a housing application if the person can demonstrate that he or she has a care package to make life viable in that house. This is the interoperability piece with the HSE. The housing allocation officers in some local authorities seem happy enough to assign a property to somebody and it is then up to the family to campaign and advocate for a care package. From my personal experience, I would say it should not be predicated on the HSE because it has shown itself unwilling to provide care packages for people. It is not that the HSE is unable to do so but that it is unwilling to do so. I do not think it should be at the discretion of a disability services manager whether an adult is allocated a housing unit. Does the Department have a policy on that issue? If it does not, is that something we should feed into the Department? It should be the case that a housing unit is allocated and the family then campaigns for a support package to go with it.