Residents with disabilities are left in the lurch by Council

Disabled residents of Council houses are waiting as long as 18 months for vital home extensions – before being turned down.

Not one housing extension for people with disabilities was built in the city last year, according to information received by Labour Party City Councillor Billy Cameron.

This is despite the fact that eight tenants applied for extension works to their homes in 2015.

Councillor Cameron has slammed the delay in delivering for disabled people.

“This week, Galway is hosting the world’s biggest disability law summer school in NUIG. But is our Council living up to its responsibilities under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?

“I am absolutely frustrated at the delays, non-delivery, obfuscation and the general attitude of ‘new found policies’ of Galway City Council and the Department of Environment, Housing and Local Government in relation to the building of extensions for people with disability and their families,” said Cllr Cameron.

He said there were eight applications for extensions last year, and none of them were delivered.

“I am dealing with two of those cases, of tenants living in Westside. One of them is an adult with Down Syndrome, who has multiple health issues including vertigo. What he needs is an extension with a walk-in shower. What they offered him was a stair-lift.”

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune