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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 Cathaoirleach very much and I am delighted to be here. I also thank the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for the invitation to update members in this very important area. My Department’s policy in respect of housing for disabled people is underpinned by a dedicated joint strategy between my Department and the Department of Health since 2011. The most recent...

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 Senator McGreehan. I came into the Department at the start of last year. As the national strategy for housing for people with disabilities had been published, I worked with the officials to bring the implementation plan up to date. It was something I felt very strongly about and we published that. I tried to make it in real time. Within that, we have each of the housing 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: In terms of that breakdown, we get a summary of needs assessment, which is submitted on an annual basis. The latest figures we have are from 1 November 2022. To go through the figures, there were 4,931 households and the main need for housing support was deemed to be one of the four disabilities, as well as the category of other disabilities. Of these, 3,842 households had a specific need...

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: That is a summary. It is coming through in two areas, namely, the social housing investment programme, SHIP, which is funding that local authorities get directly and through the CAS. In 2022, according to the latest figures from CAS, 112 housing units were delivered under CAS for disabled people at a cost of €16 million. A consistent statistic of 15% overall of people who got social...

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...

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