Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's understanding goes some way towards the problem but not quite all the way. It arises from a direct letter that he got, and other people are in this position. While I will not mention names, they have a child who is nine years old and who has a severe disability and cannot walk. They met with Senator Nikki Bradley and the ambassador, and have tried all of that. They are asking for the legislation to be amended. The Minister of State quoted policy but I am referring to an exceptional situation. It is very difficult. There are extenuating circumstances, so we are not talking about opening the floodgates. They are asking for the legislation to be amended to allow families to have the option to build side by side with a property that is affected. They have no alternative. They cannot go into a caravan and there is no available property for rent, as we know from the Simon report referred to earlier. The number of properties available for rent throughout the county is minimal. We are talking about extenuating circumstances. We need to change the policy or amend the legislation.

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