Disabled people can be waiting up to 10 years for social housing, the Irish Wheelchair Association has claimed.
The organisation is making its pre-budget submission today, and is calling for at least 7% of social-housing in Ireland to be made wheelchair-accessible.
There are 5,095 people with disabilities waiting for Government provided homes, according to the Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2018.
The Association's Advocacy Officer Joan Carthy said: “Some wheelchair users wait up to 10 years for suitable accommodation.
“According to the Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2018, there are 5,095 people with disabilities waiting for social housing and in the 2016 Triennial Housing Needs Assessment, people with disabilities were the single largest group in need of housing.
“We are calling for 7% of social housing units to be wheelchair accessible to agreed best practice design standards in line with Irish Wheelchair Association access guidelines.”
The IWA has also criticised the government for “prioritising connecting people virtually over connecting them physically to their communities.”
In its pre-budget submission, they are calling on the government to give focus to those with disabilities on public transport as wheelchair users are to give 24 hour notice when travelling on trains and are often refused onto buses leaving them stranded for hours.
The pre-budget was launched by Niamh Ní Ruari, a wheelchair user from Dublin who has highlighted the need for improvement in these areas.
She said: “I have been refused coming home from my hospital appointments at the stop outside Beaumont Hospital.
“The bus only comes once an hour, so I could be waiting two hours for a bus.
“I have been refused because one wheelchair user might be on the bus already, or a pram that isn’t folded up.”
