Tom Hayes
Ceist:542 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government when his Department will sanction independent housing accommodation for handicapped people. [30804/03]
Written Answers. - Services for People with Disabilities.
A number of schemes administered by the local authorities, such as the disabled person's grant and the voluntary housing capital assistance scheme, are available to assist handicapped persons in achieving independent housing accommodation. Under the disabled person's grants scheme, a local authority may pay a grant to a person for the provision of additional accommodation or the carrying out of necessary adaptation works to a house to render it more suitable for a handicapped member of the household. The administration of the scheme and decisions on individual applications are the responsibility of the relevant local authorities. My Department's involvement relates primarily to the recoupment of certain amounts of local authority expenditure in the payment of individual grants, with €33.460 million having been recouped to the end of November 2003 in respect of 5,485 grants paid by local authorities.
The voluntary housing capital assistance scheme provides financial assistance in the provision of housing by approved voluntary bodies for homeless, elderly, disadvantaged and disabled persons. The detailed administration of the scheme is devolved to local authorities within their areas. My Department provides funding for local authorities for individual projects sanctioned by them, within the allocation available in the public capital programme. A total of €102.5 million has been sanctioned for this purpose in 2003 in respect of 884 units of accommodation, of which 250 are intended for disabled persons.
Tom Hayes
Ceist:543 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government if it can be made mandatory for all Government and local authority buildings to have automatic doors and not the spring-loaded type which carers find very difficult to deal with; and if the doors can be wide enough for access by wheelchairs. [30813/03]
Part M of the building regulations, which applies to all new buildings and extensions or material alterations to existing buildings commenced on or after 1 June 1992, requires that adequate provision shall be made to enable people with disabilities to safely and independently access and use a building. The technical guidance document on Part M specifies methods of achieving compliance with this requirement in relation to both entrance doors and internal doors to rooms and on circulation routes. The guidance specifies door widths – entrance doors: 800 mm and internal doors, 750 mm – which are considered adequate for wheelchair use. It allows both automatic and manually operated doors. It specifies an unobstructed space at least 300 mm wide on the side next the leading edge of a single leaf door, in order that a wheelchair user can reach the door handle and operate the door. My Department has asked Departments, State agencies and local authorities on a number of occasions to make pre-June 1992 public buildings accessible to people with disabilities. The last relevant circular letter issued on 11 April 2003, as part of the initiatives to mark the European Year for People with Disabilities.