Councils Urged To Review Social Housing List For Wheelchair Accessibility

A hearing has been held in the front of the Oireachtas Housing Committee outlining the challenges people with a disability face in accessing housing.

The Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) and The National Disability Authority went before the committee this morning, 04 July, making a series of recommendations to tackle issues for wheelchair users.

These included simple administrative changes of revising the social housing application forms to record a wheelchair accessible housing requirement, and ensuring that the local authorities have the IT system in place to support this.


Outlining the contribution of the disability rights groups, Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin TD said: "In the meantime, every Local Authority should review its current social housing list and see how many people require wheelchair accessible housing.

"They should also plan for and ensure that that 7% of every social housing development is designed to be wheelchair accessible.

"Part M of the current building regulations should be reviewed, with input from the IWA, to include wheelchair accessible design specifications."

He added: "All of these proposals are workable and Minister Eoghan Murphy must heed the housing demands of disability rights groups."

(CM/JG)