Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Housing for All is committed to ensuring that affordable, quality housing with an appropriate mix of housing design types provided within social housing, including universally designed units, is available to everyone in Irish society, including older and disabled people.

The Building Regulations (Part M Amendment) Regulations sets out the minimum statutory requirements that a building must achieve in respect of access and use while the accompanying technical guidance encourages building owners and designers to have regard to the design philosophy of universal design and to consider making additional provisions where practicable and appropriate.

The initiation, planning and design of projects is a matter for individual local authorities in accordance with their development plans. A key action of Housing for All required local authorities to develop Housing Delivery Action Plans to include details of social and affordable housing delivery, including specific plans for housing for the delivery of housing for older people. The Plans set out details of both social and affordable housing delivery as appropriate over the period 2022-2026, in line with targets set under Housing for All. The Plans also include details of the locations and delivery streams for social housing schemes and to make adequate provision for 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes. Housing Delivery Action Plans are published on the websites of the respective local authorities.

My Department recently issued Section 28 guidelines for Planning Authorities on Sustainable Residential Development and Compact Settlements (SRDCSGs). These Guidelines set national planning policy and guidance in relation to the planning and development of urban and rural settlements, with a focus on residential development.

The SRDSGs seek to ensure that new communities are designed to enhance accessibility to services, community facilities and amenities, optimise mobility for vulnerable users (with reference to the principles of Universal Design) and provide greater housing choice with a focus on the delivery of innovative housing types that can facilitate compact growth and provide greater housing choice that respond to the needs of single people, families, older people and people with disabilities, informed by a Housing Need and Demand Assessment, where possible.

At a broader level, the National Standards Authority of Ireland, Ireland’s official standards body under the aegis of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment have recently commenced work on a new national standard for Universal Design housing, which will be developed in collaboration with interested parties (See: www.nsai.ie/about/news/call-for-experts-in-the-development-of-a-standard-on-universal-design-dwellings-requirements-and-recommendations/) The new standard will include specific requirements and recommendations for new dwellings through a Universal Design approach.