Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the funding provided by the Department to local authorities for older person's grants and disabled person's grants. Much of that funding is dependent on the monetary input of the local authorities in the context of the amount allocated overall. Local authorities have a diminishing ability to put funds towards these grants and they are being penalised as a result in the allocation provided by the Exchequer. There are four and five-year waiting lists, respectively, for these grants in County Offaly.