John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ireland's well-being framework is a laudable initiative. The limitations of GDP as a measurement of a country's progress has long been acknowledged. As with any initiative, it can be judged only by the positive outcomes it delivers for society. Like equity budgeting, we have yet to see what tangible benefits and realisation of rights it will deliver. What impact, for example, will the framework have for people living in residential services for people with disabilities, who contributed to the HIQA report on resident forums published today? HIQA's report includes the distressing confirmation that residents want to get out of the residential settings and live in the community but there is nowhere for them to live on their own.

On Sunday, my party leader, Deputy McDonald, met Geraldine Lavelle, who, as a result of collision when out cycling nine years ago, suffered a spinal fracture that left her paralysed from the chest down. After her rehabilitation, Geraldine moved into a congregated setting for what she thought would be a number of months in order to adjust to life with her injury. Eight years later, she is still there, with no indication of when appropriate social housing will be provided for her. She rightly believes that everybody needs a place to call home and that segregated settings do not feel like a home.

Frameworks are not worth the paper they are written on if people's lived experiences are not front and centre and if the State's failure to provide for them is not addressed. How will the framework deliver for Geraldine and the contributors to HIQA's resident forums?

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