Mr. Aidan O'Reilly:

The feedback from local authorities regarding the housing adaptation grant is that time taken for a decision ranges from four to 12 weeks, depending on the level of documentation that needs to be provided. We have just completed a process of meeting all 31 local authorities. The most recent session was last week's. It was good to get the front-line local authority staff together - that was probably the first time it had been done in a comprehensive way - and get their feedback. We had an awareness previously, one since verified by the process, about different levels of requirement in terms of documentation and so on. There are good opportunities to streamline the procedures and reduce the level of documentation. Some local authorities might seek a more stringent level of documentation than others, which can present delays. We can streamline that and bring about sharp turnaround times for decisions.