Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hate to be in any way critical, but I have to say, as a follow-up to the point made by Deputy O'Brien, that there has been no proper joined-up thinking between An Bord Pleanála and the Department. While there is good work going on in the Department to identify ways and means of helping elderly people to stay in their homes, I have to say frankly that it is nothing like what it should be.

It falls far short of where we should be as a first world society in terms of providing housing for the elderly. Unfortunately, I cannot spend much time on the issue because I have another commitment. I would like to have the time to drill down into the failure of the Department to a large extent in this area.

As regards housing adaptation grants and housing aid for older people, when is the last time the criteria and guidelines were updated for either of those schemes?