Results 261-280 of 25,289 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: I acknowledge the work the Senator and I have done together. She is a very good representative for both the Travelling community and the wider community. I might touch on a couple of themes. Obviously, I will leave the more detailed work on Traveller accommodation to the committee, but the funding significantly increased in 2023 on the previous year. One issue I wanted to see happen on a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: It is owing to the hard work of the officials as well.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: I was very keen that each local authority would draw down funding. We certainly worked actively with the local authorities to make certain they would. We have increased the funding. When it comes down to it, bricks and mortar are key. We would like to receive the Senator's feedback at the Joint Committee on Key Issues Affecting the Traveller Community on the fact that have a caravan loan...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: I am doing further work on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: Is the Deputy talking about the housing adaptation grant?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: I will take the points in order. The Department commissioned a review of the housing adaptation grants in the past year. The Department has looked at it in great depth. The Deputy touched on the key areas, including income and grant limits. As it stands, housing adaptation grants are available to renters. We carried out a review of all the areas the Deputy touched on. A submission was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Deputy is talking about private houses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: May I make an observation in that regard? Whether we are talking about a housing adaptation grant or a disabled persons grant that is being dealt with by a local authority directly, there is a process to go through. An occupational therapist is normally involved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: He or she comes out and carries out an assessment. As the Deputy knows well, occupational therapists look in many cases to see if a stairlift would work instead of building a downstairs bathroom. They may look to whether that would work. They go through a process. I accept that at times, to get a bedroom at the back of a house, there must be a high level of medical need. I generally find...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Senator can hold me to account today.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: I can do that. As a committee chair, one looks at areas. If the Senator has recommendations to make on particular areas, I ask him to make them. I deal with the issue in practice. It comes down to what letter shows the utter requirement for a service. If people are coming to you, they typically have a need. The Senator's point is taken and I will carry it back. If the committee has a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: The national guidelines for the assessment and allocation process for social housing provision for people with disabilities come from my Department and the Senator is probably familiar with them. The guidelines state that the allocation of housing should come first. It is all about joined-up thinking. When I came into the Department there was a housing strategy and a lot of work had been...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: I would be speaking in the abstract and I do not wish to do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: The one thing we have to do is provide a framework. The implementation plan now provides a framework of 170 actions. Every quarter, each local authority is required to report on actions they have implemented. We will follow up on the action the Senator is taking in terms of care. If targets, actions and timeframes are not set, it is very difficult to measure it. It is all about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: I thank the Deputy. As always, he gets to the heart of the matter. I will address the three issues he raised. We are very conscious in the review to ensure people who have a disability or a need are catered for in the household. We take the point being made about looking at the people themselves. Second, we have looked at the costs involved in construction. We have a review completed and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: We take the points on board in sharing that the local authorities give 20% at the moment. We provide 80%. We are conscious of that. These are all matters we are keeping under consideration.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: We are fully aware of them.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Deputy will appreciate, as a former Minister of State, that these discussions are sensitive. However, we are fully aware of the points he is making.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: First, under the existing scheme local authorities are asked to prioritise people coming home from hospital. The Deputy is probably aware of that. Second, we looked at this as part of a qualitative and quantitative review. The quantitative is funding and the qualitative is the scheme's operation. The schemes that work well are those that are more straightforward. It is something we want...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters: Planning for Inclusive Communities: Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (20 Mar 2024)

Kieran O'Donnell: Will the Deputy let me know a bit more about that?