Mr. Seán Moynihan:

We made freedom of information requests to all local authorities just before Christmas last year and found that roughly 3,500 people are waiting. Some do not keep waiting lists, so the numbers are not fully accurate, and everybody keeps numbers in different ways. The system is slow and cumbersome. We have done a lot of work with other NGOs and have produced reports, dating back to 2017, to help with streamlining and to reduce the number of assessment forms to one. However, the reality, as we all know, is that every increase has just been swallowed up by building inflation in recent years. We are really at 2011 levels but the demand for the grant is so much higher given the nature of things. The system is so worried that people might benefit, that their house prices could be augmented or that somebody else could do well, and that is why we point out that in one of the quarters last year, 50% of all those we were helping with grants were getting them for bathrooms. A disability bathroom will devalue your house because, after a probate sale, the chances are that somebody will have to pay to take it out.