Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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520. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of persons on each housing waiting list by local authority that are wheelchair users; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41012/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Housing waiting lists are compiled by all local authorities and are based on the identified needs of social housing applicants in their areas. Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority area are set out in the statutory Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA), which includes breakdowns by each local authority across a range of categories, including disability. Disability is categorised under four main headings; physical, intellectual, sensory, mental health. Currently, there is no separate breakdown of wheelchair users in the Summary, who are categorised under the physical disability heading.

A breakdown of the four main categories of disability in the most recently published summary, which sets out the position at 11 June 2018, is available in Table A 1.5 of the summary publication, which is available on my Department's website at the following link:

www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/publications/files/summary_of_social_housing_assessments_2018_-_key_findings.pdf.

My Department, in close collaboration with the local authority sector, is working on the provision of a revised social housing application form, which will include a new mechanism to capture a "wheelchair suitable" requirement. It is expected that this work will be completed by the end of 2019.