Victor Boyhan
Agricultural Panel · Independent · Ireland
“It also mentions the agrifood sector and the importance of diversification in agriculture, the maritime sector, coastal communities and fishing communities in terms of rural policy.”
“I know from my engagement with both the Department and the Minister that over 900 submissions to the consultation process were received. No Member or parliamentarian will have had the opportunity to consider the anonymised version of these consultations, which contain many good suggestions in favour of the regulations and many concerns in…”
“I welcome the Minister and the official to the Seanad. This is particularly important Private Members' business. I thank Senators Collins and Tully for setting out the background and the rationale behind their Private Members' motion. I acknowledge the Minister's exceptional commitment to rural Ireland and his Ministry.”
“I am conscious of the Minister's public consultation, and I acknowledge it and thank them for it, in relation to the Our Rural Future work programme in 2025. In fairness to him, he did not stop at that. I received a further update when I requested it from his office very recently.”
“This will come about through that process. It is for the Minister to decide. Maybe he will do so tomorrow when the regulations are dealt with. However, when Senators are in this Chamber discussing these regulations tomorrow, they will have no sight of any constituent who made a submission. That is my first item.”
“I am pleased to see Senator Byrne in the Leader’s chair. I wish him well in that job. I also wish him well in his new position as Government Whip. There are three items I wish to discuss today. First is the exempt development regulations, which are being covered extensively in the media.”
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“Clearly, one-off housing on family-owned land and farm homesteads is something people feel they have a right to. The Minister of State represents an urban and a rural constituency and is very versed and capable in planning. I served on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage with him and know his in-depth knowledge and commitment in this area. That is not in question and I want to say that to him. I acknowledge the enormous work and expertise he has in this area. However, farmers in rural communities want to be able to have their children live on their land. They work the soil and have sweat on their brow. They are very proud of their achievement, to initially have a modest holding and expand it over generations into a more substantial holding. They want to celebrate the fruits of their labour.”
“I want to reference a press release I issued to Agriland on 13 November 2025 in which I said that it was with some disappointment that I discovered that there was no clarity on the rural housing guidelines, which it was expected would be addressed as part of the national housing policy. When the national housing policy was published, there was great expectation. A number of farm organisations said they expected one-off rural housing objectives to be included in the national housing plan. That did not happen. We were told that there would be these national planning statements and they would address the issues into the future. We are now hearing we will have them in the second half of this year. That is to be welcomed although things are a bit slow.”
“I had a Commencement matter with the then Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell, on 22 March 2023. The Minister, Deputy Burke, was one of the greatest supporters of rural housing. He had responsibility for planning, development and housing in the Minister of State's Department and was effectively doing the same job he is doing now. In correspondence he said people should have the right to live where they come from. I very much welcome that approach. He was very supportive of the planning guidelines and expected progress. We have been told for many years that planning guidelines were imminent and had been drafted. There have been some changes. Let us have less of the history lesson. We are where we are today and I want to welcome that.”
“Such information is listed in the appendices of the report on the consultation. If we are having a consultation, it must be genuine, open and transparent. I could submit a freedom of information request, and I have been advised that I would get that information. That is not the way we should be doing our business. If people make submissions to a statutory or non-statutory public consultation initiated by the Minister of State's Department, or any other Department, we need to see greater transparency. I am no stranger to making requests since the Flemish decree. I have a letter from the Minister, Deputy Browne, dated 24 July 2025. I have a letter from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and one from the Minister, Deputy Browne, from October 2025. I have a letter from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, dated 30 October 2024.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad. The proposal is a welcome move. I have considered all of his points, a few of which I will reference. He spoke about a public consultation, which is important. I wrote to his Department regarding modular units at the back of houses, a matter which went to a period of public consultation. That consultation has not been published on the Department's website. I had no support from the Department when I made inquiries on behalf of people who made submissions to the public consultation process. I have not spoken to the Minister of State directly, to be fair, but I have sent correspondence to the Minister and Department. If we are going to have a consultation, it has to be meaningful and transparent. If I make a submission to my county development plan, I am listed as having made a submission.”
“I know that Senators Ruane and McDowell were and they put a lot of work into the pre-legislative scrutiny. Not everything that they recommended was ultimately incorporated into this legislation. It is important to have clarity on the code of practice procedures, the role and function in relation to the draft of the Garda Commissioner along with his expert staff and advisers, and ultimately the Minister’s role in signing off and accepting if that is an adequate draft of the code as the envisaged in the Bill. I thank him for that clarity on all of those matters.”
“I thank the Minister for the clarity which was exactly what I was looking for. We are clear now that this is a draft code of practice which is important. The Minister has set out his role as distinct from that of the Commissioner in preparing the draft. Ultimately, the Minister takes the hit and signs off on it, which is reassuring. It is important that it will come to both Houses for approval. I note what the Minister said about section 10, the new section 47A. I decided to take it early because I saw there was an opportunity to take it early and get it out of the way. It is good to have clarity at the early stage of our debate today because the code of practice was a particular issue which took up a lot of time in the pre-legislative scrutiny. I was not a member of the previous committee.”
“At the end of the day, this is about a just system that protects everyone proportionately. That is important, too, but there are a lot of sinister and dangerous people in our society and, therefore, all mechanisms of technology and innovation have to be put to the fore as instruments in tackling crime, as well as making our places safer for all. On that point, I wish the Minister well. The issue of the code of practice is really important. Will he give us some feedback in terms of whether the code will come back before the Houses of the Oireachtas?”
“When this Bill is reviewed at some time in the future, there will be lessons learned or new thoughts will come about regarding things that we, the legislators, did not envisage. These submissions are important. I acknowledge the Data Protection Commission, which is committed to keeping an eye on all of this, given its statutory obligation to do so; An Garda Síochána and the then Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, who made a very detailed submission; the Law Society, the ICCL, Safeguarding Ireland and the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland. They all made very comprehensive and well-thought-out submissions. They came to this legislation with a positive view of strengthening it, not knocking it, and raised their legitimate concerns for the organisations and people they represent.”
“It is just saying that we do not need to rush it. However, we do not want to leave it too long either. I know that the Minister is committed to getting this legislation up, running and enacted, which is important, but in fairness, the DPC says that it is important that it not be rushed. I ask the Minister to confirm that the code of practice will be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas when it is prepared. That is an important imperative in terms of oversight by both Houses of the Oireachtas. I am going to finish by saying that I support the Bill. The code of practice is fundamental. It is a complex thing. No doubt, it will be moved, shaped, amended and improved.”
“Clear descriptions relating to the safeguards need to be put in place for the protection of the fundamental rights of individuals, including but not limited to measures to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the personal data collected and to underline the processing of the staff training and technologies. I know that the Minister is committed to all of this, but I want to put on the record that, having engaged with these four submissions, they raise reasonable, fair and well-articulated concerns. The DPC went on to say that, given the scale and complexity of the issues in the Bill, it was important that the code of practice would not be regarded as a mere afterthought or formality and that the process of creating the code would not be rushed. To be fair, the DPC is not criticising the Minister.”
“The DPC stated that the lawfulness of the data processing was dependent upon the code contributing to the clarity and foreseeability of the end-to-end effect of the data processing operations, and any room for deviation from standard operating procedures would possibly undermine this. The DPC talked about the effective internal oversight mechanisms governing the deployment of FRT and the identification and definition of the roles and responsibilities of the relevant authorised officers. All of that will be critical in building confidence around the code. The code is very important and significant. The Minister spoke about it at some length the last time we were here.”
“We are effectively signing up to a Bill where we do not know what the code of practice is, but to be fair to the DPC, it pointed out that it was significant and that the Minister and the Department needed time to work out the details about the code of practice. The DPC stated that the code would need to ensure a clear articulation of the legal basis of processing and reflecting on the statutory footing under the principal Act, and that the circumstances under which An Garda Síochána is allowed to deploy facial recognition technology, FRT, are clear to the public and provide sufficient clarity and legal certainty to prevent the arbitrary use of these technologies.”
“There were recurring themes in those submissions that warranted further examination. I know that the Minster subsequently looked at this Bill and that he became the Minister after the pre-legislative scrutiny was done on this and many adjustments were made. Most of what is encapsulated in my queries relates to the Data Protection Commission's commentary on the Bill. Interestingly, the Data Protection Commission, DPC, had several points in its submission under the code of practice heading. It noted the centrality of the code, the lawfulness of processing personal data and the purpose of biometric identification in this Bill under the general scheme. The DPC made the point that the code of practice was important.”
“I welcome the Minister to the House. The code of practice, as the Minister is familiar with, is peppered right through this Bill, but I saw an opportunity in the amendment that has not been moved, and in section 3 where there are many references to the code of practice, so it is appropriate to bring it up at this point. As I said the last time the Minister was here in relation to this Bill, I support the Bill, but it is important to get some clarity on a number of issues. What was particularly interesting, and I drew the Minister's attention to it, was that An Garda Síochána made a detailed submission, as did the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, the Law Society, Safeguarding Ireland and the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland. I referenced these during my previous contribution on this Bill.”
“I want to be practical and to acknowledge that late in the day, the Government has taken the pragmatic decision, regardless of the outcome in the courts, to proceed in the interests of certainty so we can have a planning statement that will cover this issue.”
“Parallel to the disputed guidelines that have been in operation, we will have other guidelines. The submissions and observations regarding the draft national planning statement, which will now be a planning statement, and an SEA environmental report have been published for consultation. The Government is happy to announce today that the consultation process starts and will be completed at 5.30 p.m. on 7 July 2026. I thank the Leader and the Government for bringing a bit of common sense to the matter. We will not be able to discuss it tomorrow because it does not come within the broader context of planning, but it will come up later in the week. It is a good decision.”
“It said that An Coimisiún Pleanála has been applying the 2025 design standard guidance for apartments for planning authorities to the planning appeals since July 2025. We have somewhat of a confused state in relation to these guidelines. We know that a number of councillors from other parties and none initiated these legal proceedings. We know they were heard in the High Court and the decision under Mr. Justice Humphreys was to refer them to the European courts. We are applying guidelines that are in legal limbo. Anyway, the State has clearly recognised there is a concern in this regard. There is an issue with the strategic environmental assessment, SEA, directive. It today announced a new public consultation, which I welcome because it gives a sense of certainty.”
“I welcome the Government’s announcement that the draft national planning statement on design standards for apartments will now open to the public again. This is a new draft set of guidelines. I cautioned this many times. Members of the House should be aware that the current guidelines were the subject of a High Court action, which is not appropriate for me to go into other than to say they were referred by Mr. Justice Humphreys and are now before the European courts. Many developers and planners have raised concerns about this. Indeed, I have raised concerns and submitted a Commencement matter for later this week. I wrote to An Coimisiún Pleanála on 5 June and received correspondence today.”
“That ranges from sexual offences, rape, intimidation, blackmail and all sorts of other issues. When we talk about smarter gardaí, it is about being smart. Gardaí on the streets does not necessarily mean everything for people. It is always important that while nothing deters crime, we must always go back to community. We need to get under the skin of why so many crimes are happening, but that is for another day. I wish the Minister well. We are going to embrace technology and innovation. If that aids and makes this a safer place for our citizens, then that has to be the right thing to do.”
“It is about confidence in a system that is not subject to or open to abuse. I referenced those particular submissions to the Minister. I have a few amendments in mind. I am a pragmatist at best. I would like to work with the Minister's officials next week, send a draft to them, and maybe they will be able to clarify some of those points. That would be very helpful. I wish the Minister well on this important legislation. I understand the significance of embracing innovation and technology. At the end of the day, what the Minister said last night to us in another debate within his brief, there are a lot of very dangerous and sinister people out there. We have to use all technologies in identifying, exposing and bringing people to justice and account.”
“There was a particularly interesting one from the Rape Crisis Ireland. There was a submission from An Garda Síochána. There were interesting issues there. Of particular interest were submissions by the Data Protection Commissioner, Safe Ireland and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. There are many more, but these were the six that I took out and read. There are some key issues there. I do not think we are that far apart. Facial recognition is about technology, data protection and impact assessment, which the Minister dealt with in his statement to us today. Legislation and the code of practice are clearly important. What do we want at the end of all this legislation? We want to ensure for Irish citizens that there are high standards that the public can expect of An Garda Síochána. I know An Garda Síochána is committed too.”
“Adoption of current issues have not been brought into play. They raise interesting points. I intend to look at one or two amendments. Before I do so, I hope I can engage directly with the Minister's Department because I believe in being proactive with the Department rather than coming in here. It is only as a last resort. It may be an issue of clarification. I thank the library and research team for the extensive work that they have done. It aids us in analysing legislation. That is what they are there. I draw that fact to the Minister's attention. This document was carried out by Karen McLaughlin, senior parliamentary researcher. It is dated 16 December 2025. It is interesting to look at a number of submissions. I am going reference them rather than talk about them. There was a very interesting submission from the Law Society.”
“The Joint Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration carried out an extensive paper and pre-legislative scrutiny on this Bill. There are elements that have changed. I acknowledge that Senators McDowell, Gallagher and Ruane, who are on that committee, made 32 recommendations. It is worth looking at the analysis of those recommendations as compared with the Bill that is before us today. I thank the Oireachtas Library and Research team. I do not know if the Minister has seen their report yet. It is a really good report. Every Minister should always see the Oireachtas Library and Research work. They have done an analysis on the 32 recommendations in the report and have broken them up into four statuses. They say that the key issues that have clearly been accepted and reflected in the Bill amount to four. There are other areas.”
“I wish I could say the same. I am very positively disposed to this legislation. I thank the Minister for giving his comprehensive statement to us. I smiled with delight somewhat when I heard the Minister pointing out further elements of and commitments in the programme for Government and that he is driving them through. Clearly, this is a Minister with intent and who has a reforming zeal. He is also keeping one eye on the programme for Government, which is encouraging. I do not think any other Minister has ever come in here to us in the past year and a half and talked about the programme for Government in terms of rattling off the to-do list, as the Minister has. Well done. It is great to see that the Minister is clearly very focused on that.”
“I would like to have a targeted, respectful conversation with the relevant Government Departments to see what we can do to progress this matter, which is about justice and redress.”
“We were told yesterday about restitution that never came. That was the story about the boarded-out survivors. They are still excluded from any financial redress despite repeated recognition of the wrongdoing of the State. Indeed, I sat in the Chamber some weeks back when the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, who I know has huge sympathy and empathy with this particular issue, spoke about an apology but the redress has not been given. I want to thank the special advocate, Patricia Carey. I want to thank the people who shared their story with us at Buswells Hotel at the press launch yesterday. I ask the Leader if we could have a debate specifically on the boarded-out families to let us look at it again and see what practical measures there are. Redress is about more than money; it is about practical supports.”
“However, the greatest sin of all was to break the link from their brothers and sisters. Yesterday we heard the story of a man who went on a bus to Kilgarvan and was then wrenched away from his brother and taken up to another family in Kerry, not that far away, but for ten years they never connected and never met. That has all been validated and we heard that story yesterday. Again, there was no commitment to link him in. That leaves emotional, physical and mental scars on people. The Government has acknowledged different things. I want to make a particular reference to the Taoiseach. I am only talking about boarding out here today because there were many aspects covered yesterday. The Taoiseach gave an apology and a recognition in the State's apology to the boarded-out people, but nothing has happened.”
“It comes in many forms and is sometimes a combination of them all. The great tragedy is that thousands and thousands of children, both boys and girls, were farmed out and were separated from their families. This was aided and abetted by the institutions of the State and the church. This was, historically, of a time. Things have moved on. As someone who is committed to agriculture and has represented the agricultural panel for over ten years now, I am struck by the thought that young children aged five, six and seven were housed in barns and sheds. They were not housed with the family or the children. They were out picking stones. They worked as slaves seven days a week. There are stories of children who were forced to eat swill rather than food. There are stories of children who were held back from any education.”
“I want to raise one issue today. The special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse held a press conference. I do not recall that there were any Senators there but there were a number of Deputies present. It was packed and was extensively covered in all media today. It is a reminder of a lot of unfinished business. We heard a heart-rending story from a man who was taken to Kerry and ended up being boarded out. He shared with us the enormous emotion of the separation of his brothers and the impact it had on his life. This man had an extraordinary story that I had never heard before. Many of the journalists present were deeply moved by it. The story related to boarding out. There are many aspects to institutional abuse. We talk about emotional abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse.”
“I welcome the students, parents and supporters from the Skerries Educate Together national school who are in the Visitors Gallery. They are all very welcome to the House. I call the Minister of State.”
“I welcome the students and teachers from Leamlara national school, who are guests of Deputy James O'Connor. You are very welcome to the House. We are now engaging with Commencement matters, during which a number of topics are taken each day and relevant Ministers to those topics come in, so here we have the Minister for justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan. Enjoy your day. I thank the Minister for coming to the House.”
“The Minister who is to take the next Commencement matter is not here. We understand he is on his way. It is a last-minute changeover. I ask the Acting Leader to move a suspension of the House until 10.55 a.m.”
“He will put in place mechanisms. He might keep the House informed of those. This is an excellent document. It has only recently been published. It is a pathway for a very clear intention the Minister has driven and personally taken great interest in so I commend him and his Minister of State on this strategy and wish them well.”
“We have heard of cases of students being put under pressure. There are anecdotal suggestions of prostitution in lieu of rent; this has been raised in this House, in the Lower House and in the committees. These are the sorts of challenges students are facing. I acknowledge and thank the Minister for the National Student Accommodation Strategy 2026-2035, but it has to be more than just physical accommodation. It has to meet the holistic needs of students in universities, in other third level institutions, in apprenticeships and in all forms of learning and support. When students have to come to the big towns and the big cities and do not have accommodation, it will cost them and many people are backing off. The Minister's proposal has an implementation action plan for his strategy, but he has yet to establish the implementation strategy.”
“We can do that through the availability of on-campus or off-campus support for students. It is optional and we have to give options there. At the end of the day, many students are feeling insecure, are under pressure and do not have the accommodation to meet their needs. The easy option is to struggle to continue on with their academic work and have a full-time job. I am told there are many students who are in full-time employment and are balancing night hours or early hours with being a student. They are trying to be a full-time student and a full-time employee and they do not tell their employer about this set of circumstances. They are run ragged and are under fierce pressure. Not everyone survives and many crack so that is a problem. For students, living in casual, rental room situations carries enormous risk.”
“It is about personal development, relationship building, mental health, participation and volunteering. These are all critical parts of young people's development and they are missing out on them. Many students have no option but to live in really overcrowded accommodation, with many of them sharing rooms with multiple people they do not know morning, noon and night. I have heard of six or seven people living in a bedsitter in Rathmines. They do not want to complain. All they want is to get through their college career. Students are also reporting subpar living conditions, including a lack of any heating, no access to the Internet and no cooking facilities. That also ties in with my suggestion in regard to food for the pilot. Mental health and anxiety issues are serious and they need to be addressed and targeted.”
“The impact of food and nutrition is really important in the lives of students. Health, including mental health, is really important. We are seeing students dropping out of university. I acknowledge and praise the work going on in UCD with students who have had to opt out. There are implications of dropping out of courses in terms of grants and funding. UCD is running schemes to give people a year out, not to do nothing but to pause, tie into other ways of learning and have an opportunity to get back on the moving academic bus. That is important. Exorbitant rents are a major challenge. We know the high demand in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick is a problem. Students are unable to immerse themselves in college life, which is all about formation. Student life is about more than academia. Sport, for example, is critically important.”
“We could not provide free food for all students initially but I ask him to consider identifying some third level establishments in which a scheme could be delivered offering one hot meal a day as an option for students. Such a scheme would have to be piloted initially and then assessed. I make that request to the Minister today because students are making it to me. They tell me they are living off takeaways because the food available is not good. They are meant to be at their peak of health to learn but they are not getting the nutrition they require. In the context of rising living costs and the associated challenges of people having to commute every day or second day from the west to Dublin, we can all agree that we all need food, rest and decent accommodation in which to lay our heads and recharge.”
“It is an issue I know the Minister is committed to tackling, along with the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne. The low level of accommodation availability is a challenge. I spoke to a person last week about long-distance commuting. There are students commuting from Galway to UCD on a daily basis, which is tough. People spend hours hanging around on campus waiting for buses that may turn up at the wrong time. Feeding themselves is another expense. There are a lot of challenges and difficulties due to the lack of housing options. We all know about rising living costs and they are a particular issue for students. Some have told me they are eating chicken-filled baguettes for their lunch. Will the Minister consider piloting a free scheme providing main meals for students who wish to avail of them?”
“The provision of purpose-built student accommodation is an important and exciting development but, in the past, people managed to facilitate many students in small and non-purpose-built accommodation. There is room for the private sector but any provision must be based on good quality standards. We see around us the intense competition for limited on-campus accommodation. Last week, I visited Trinity College's Trinity Hall accommodation in Dartry. It is an amazing campus, which is used for other purposes in the summer. I will not say it is self-financing but the accommodation is not empty outside term time. It is used for education, leisure, conferences and other activities. That is an important model to consider. Campus housing is full, with many students forced to rely on substandard accommodation in the private sector.”
“We are at the early stages yet, with a number of follow-on measures to come, which I will mention presently. It is important to note some of the problems. As politicians, we are involved in policy formation but I would not like people listening to this debate to think we are somehow tone-deaf to the real issues and challenges facing third level students. I am aware, as is the Minister, that the student accommodation crisis is a major barrier for some to accessing higher education. That crisis is primarily driven by the severe shortage of accommodation, which is tied to exorbitant rents and precarious living conditions. Those significant challenges directly lead to financial stress, extreme daily commutes and poor academic and mental health outcomes for many people. These are not easy times for students.”
“I welcome the Minister and thank him for facilitating this really focused debate on student access, accommodation, etc. I take on board his point about innovation, which warrants another, separate debate in the Seanad. There are many progressive developments ongoing, particularly in regard to STEM, on-campus sites and the synergies between the private sector and education. It is a really exciting space and there are real opportunities within it for a great synergy of private investment funding that could be tied up to pay back to universities. As well as being about learning, universities are also about evolving innovation and research. I welcome the developments in that regard. I thank the Minister for publishing the national student accommodation strategy for 2026 to 2035. It is a very exciting document.”
“Clearly, the Minister of State's response emphasises the importance of ensuring we continue to support people with disabilities to live meaningful and fulfilling lives through their choices, direction and chosen pathways, with a person-centred approach across the services, tapping into the multi-community services. Finally, I acknowledge that significant levels of funding will be required to roll this out over a period. It is not going to happen today or tomorrow, and that is a key ask. I ask the Minister of State to take back to the Minister my desire, and I am sure everyone's desire, that this be kept in focus as we run into the budget. This area needs resources and funding. I thank the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Foley, for their comprehensive response.”
“I thank the Minister of State and ask her to convey my thanks to the Minister, Deputy Foley, for the response. Key to all of this is, of course, the local authority and, as the Minister of State said, the housing development action plans. I do not know where they are, and if they are just about to start; it is pretty new. It would be interesting to keep an eye on that and let us all look at it again. Independent living, independent dignity, respect for the individual to make choices around their needs, accommodation, etc., are very important, and key to all of that is their being placed at the centre and heart of our communities, and to be supported in it all.”
“To follow all that initiative and support, we must put the money in place. I would be very interested to hear the Minister of State's response and am grateful to her for coming here this afternoon to deal with this matter.”
“Unless we measure this, and we set targets for all our local authorities, it is simply not going to happen. I commend the Minister, Deputy Foley, in particular on the initiative, although it is a Government initiative. We recognise that too many people with disabilities are not being enabled to play a full and meaningful role in the community in the way they wish. We also hear that it ties in with choice as regards where they want to live and the level of support they want. It is a point worth making here again, although it is not part of the Commencement matter, that far too many people with a disability who want to work cannot get work. There is a bigger picture here. Today our focus is on housing and the collaboration between the Ministers, Deputies Foley and Browne.”
“The practice of emptying out fully residential support systems without providing wraparound supports has not worked. I am very familiar with a number of charities, which I will not mention here, that embarked on the emptying out of old, unsuitable institutional buildings. They put people in one-bedroom units, particularly around the greater Dublin area. People had been institutionalised in settings for a long time and suddenly after weeks there were no supports. Supports fell away. The novelty wore off. I think we have done a lot of learning there. I also liked what the Minister, Deputy Foley, said, that for far too long disabled people have not been a priority for social and affordable housing. I think we will all agree with that. She mentioned the role of local authorities and the significance of that, and then mentioned the targets.”
“The Minister of State, having spoken about these issues previously, knows the importance of having both. We want people to live independently, if at all possible but we recognise that is not possible for everyone. We recognise the policy of decongregation of institutional settings and understand the importance of wraparound services for people who have limited ability or limited access to supports. There is no one-size-fits-all course that works for everyone so there has to be flexibility in supports and provisions for people who want to live in their community. We all want to enable people to live and play a full and meaningful role within their own communities as much as possible but we also recognise, as do disability advocates and those with a disability, that they need supports.”
“There is a crossover there and I want to acknowledge the excellent collaboration between the two Departments and the two Ministers. I was prompted to raise this as a Commencement matter because about ten days ago there was an headline in the Irish Examiner which read, "Councils now have to set housing delivery targets for disabled people". That struck a chord with me. The article in the Irish Examiner referred to the Minister, Deputy Foley, and to a statement or contribution she made at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis. That statement was carried in Monday's papers. The article referred to a game changing new policy that will be "aimed at two groups - people who are able to live independently with some supports, and people who need specialist 24-7 wraparound care".”