Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If I did not ask the local authorities to provide 20% of this funding, I would have less money to go around. This is a way of trying to ensure we have as much money as possible for a limited fund and we want the money to go to those who most need it. The upper limit for the disabled person's grant is €30,000 while the threshold for the elderly person's grant has been reduced from €10,500 to €8,000 but the average grant is €5,000. Local authorities spread the money around but it is a limited fund. If we provided a 100% grant from central funds, that would mean less money to go around.