Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I will answer the Deputy's last question first. Housing and disability are absolute priority for the Government y. We all know knocking on the doors in the general election campaign the importance of disability right across the sector. Last week, I attended the United Nations disability conference in New York. The Irish delegation travelled with leading disability groups from Ireland who have directly fed into this national disability strategy. Once this strategy is published - and the timeline for that will be before the summer recess - this will be a living document. That is not the end of it. We will constantly be adapting and making sure that we are getting our policy right by listening to those with the lived experience. It is not just about publishing a strategy, as the Deputy said; it is about implementing it. There needs to be an action plan. A cross-government implementation team will be put in place. This will not just included myself and the Minister in the Department of disability. Every single Department and every Cabinet Minister will play their role, while making sure that we achieve that step change to ensure people with disabilities live independent lives.

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