John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. It is good to have him here presenting this progress report. I will obviously focus on the areas of disability and mental health. There is a strong commitment in the programme for Government to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In this regard, I wish to mention Article 19(a), which refers to ensuring persons with disabilities "have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement". That is where I want to start with this. In the Rebuilding Ireland programme launched last July, I did not see any solid commitments to improving the chronic housing conditions of people with disabilities. It certainly mentioned programmes, strategies and this, that and the other and there was a lot of paper shifting from one desk to another, with people sitting down and talking, but I did not see many actions. Pillar 2 of Rebuilding Ireland pertains to accelerating the construction of social housing. Up to 4,000 people with disabilities have been on the social housing waiting list since 2013. They are not even mentioned in the document. I do not see this mentioned today either. Earlier, the Minister of State said,"the two progress reports published to date and the other information we have published show that solid early progress on implementation was made during the first six months of the lifetime of the action plan." Perhaps there was but it was not made for people with disabilities.

On page 33 of the second quarterly report, it is stated that the Government will work with the HSE and local authorities on all issues, including funding supports, for housing people who are transitioning from HSE accommodation and for clients of the mental health services. This is ongoing and there are no dates. There has been no product so far. On the next page it is stated that the Government will continue to support the Department of Health and the HSE in the programme of transitioning people from congregated settings. There are over 2,700 people in these circumstances at present. I calculate that there are approximately 200 plus people targeted to move out this year. There is another decade of work in that. Therefore, many people will be left in these circumstances for a decade. Individuals do not serve that much time for having killed people in this country sometimes.

The plan states, "We will extend the National Housing Strategy for People with Disabilities (2011-2016) beyond its timeframe of 2016 to continue delivery on its aims." That really means "beyond when it was supposed to be concluded". The timeline extends to 2020, which is just saying we have not done what we said we would do in recent years and that we will just keep it tipping along.

A motion was passed unanimously in this House last July. Senator Kelleher, other Senators and I were very happy to propose it. We were very delighted it had the support of the Government and others. It called on the Minister to:

- confirm that the Government's action plan for housing includes specific commitments on the delivery of housing in sufficient numbers and type to also meet the housing needs of persons with disabilities;

- ensure the provision of an annual update from local authorities of the number of social housing units allocated to people with disabilities on the housing waiting list;

- ensure that any housing project supported by public funding, including Part V housing, provide a percentage of pre-planned and reserved housing units to meet local needs for persons with disabilities;

- ensure that the social housing 2020 strategy is routinely disability proofed;

- provide funding in 2017 to increase housing supply and to make necessary and timely adaptations to current housing stock;

and

- requests that the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government draft a work programme which will routinely consider and review Government progress towards delivering adequate and sustainable housing for persons with disabilities.

This has not happened. It is not the end of the world but it is deeply disappointing. The crisis in housing for people with disabilities, which is also a crisis for their families, has existed since old God's time. There are 4,000 people on the social housing waiting list and 2,700 in congregated settings. We have 1,100 people under the age of 65 in nursing homes because housing and other supports have not been put in place for them. This reflects the daily life and experience of those affected.

My expectation is that there will be a comprehensive report by the middle of 2017 to show not only progress but also delivery across these areas. These are areas that were agreed by this House in a motion. I do not want the Minister of State to list more commitments. We have commitments and promises and it is now a matter of bricks, mortar, housing adaptation grants and real actions. People need to see real progress on these matters.

There was a document some years ago called "A lot done and more to do". Right now, there is no evidence of anything done. There is a lot to do and a lot to verify. The spirit of the motion passed this time last year by everyone in this House demands nothing less than verification of what has been done. I hope that will be more rather than less. Showing respect to this House and, more important, to people with disabilities and their families requires that there be verification of what has been done and what is in process.