Ms R?ona Morris:

I want to back up the point everyone else has made. We were asked about the housing adaptation grants. The Deputy is right that the maximum grant amount is significantly below current building costs. It has not risen in about ten years, and the maximum grant is €30,000. With current building costs that really does not get people very far. We need to look at doubling that to at least €60,000. There is an ongoing review into the housing adaptation grants by the Department of housing. That started last year, and ourselves and a number of others made submissions into that. We have not seen the outcome of the review yet. We are waiting for that in either quarter 1 or quarter 2 this year. We understand the Department is considering the recommendations coming from that. I think it is important to increase the funding for the grants. Housing adaptation grants are a really important mechanism for keeping people in the their own homes following an acquired disability or a disability progressing. The maximum amount needs to be increased. The income thresholds can also be a real issue. We have the Indecon report on additional costs of disability, where there is evidence of additional costs of €270 per week. That needs to be reflected across the board. It needs to be reflected in housing policy and with the housing adaptation grants. That needs to be considered when the income threshold is looked at. Another issue is that we need to assess the income of the person with the disability only, and not that of a partner or a parent. A particular issue at the moment is that with the housing crisis there are often adult siblings living at home. Their income is assessed too. That can put a lot of people over the threshold.