Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 26, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “(4) Where an AHB provides ‘special needs accommodation’ for tenants with additional needs beyond an inability to provide for their housing from their own resources, “special needs accommodation” shall be defined as accommodation provided to persons who by reason of old age, physical or mental disability or other cause require special accommodation and support to enable them to live in the community.”.

I will not delay the proceedings by repeating what we said on Committee Stage. I will not press amendment No. 4 but I tabled it because I want the Minister to look at it again between now and the Bill proceeding to the Seanad. In addition to outlining the other categories of housing such as social housing etc., there is a need for this section of the Bill to have a robust definition of special needs housing because it is one of the central factors of all approved housing bodies. While I am not pressing the amendment, it is there for the Minister and his officials to take a look at it and to consider if something similar could be inserted by the Minister when the Bill proceeds to the Seanad.

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