Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Danny Healy-Rae for raising this matter. As Minister of State with responsibility for housing and urban renewal in the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, I am aware of the challenges we face in delivering housing supports to a range of vulnerable households and groups throughout the country. We held a competition last week in regard to new technologies and developments to help address this situation.

I am also very aware of the social benefit accruing from the housing adaptation grants in facilitating older people, in particular, and people with disabilities in continued independent occupancy in their own homes for as long as possible. Our priority and, I am sure, that of Deputy Danny Healy-Rae is to keep people in their homes and communities, where they want to be, for as long as possible and thus keep them off the housing lists. That is our aim and we do everything we can in the Department and across other Departments to help encourage this.

The housing aid for older people scheme provides grants of up to €8,000 to assist older people living in poor housing conditions to have necessary repairs or improvements carried out. Eligible works include structural repairs or improvements, rewiring, replacement of windows and doors, sanitary facilities, heating and so on. The detailed administration of the scheme and the prioritisation of individual cases is a matter for local authorities who are familiar with the applicants and their particular housing conditions. This scheme and related schemes were reviewed by my Department in 2013 to identify how they could become more focused and targeted to those who are most in need. Based on the recommendations of this review, the eligibility age limit for the housing aid for older people was increased from 60 to 66 years to bring it in line with the majority of supports for older people. The Deputy mentioned that the age limit in this regard was previously set at 50 years but that he cannot recall when that was the case. I am not sure either when it was set at 50 years but I know that it was increased from 60 to 66 years in 2013. A lower age limit can apply in certain circumstances at the discretion of the local authority. This may happen in particular hardship cases or where medical guidance is provided in the case. However, I do not favour, and I do not intend, to reduce to 50 the age that ordinarily applies to this scheme because I believe that would be very much stretching the definition of a scheme that supports older people. There is no point in my misleading the Deputy: there is no intention to reduce the age limit in respect of eligibility for this scheme but, as I said, the local authorities have the discretion mentioned.

These grants need to be directed to those most in need and I believe our older people - they being people 66 or over, with some discretion for exceptional hardship cases - are those who warrant this support. We do not have an endless budget and we need to try to provide assistance to those most in need. That is not to say there are not others who also have need for support but every scheme must have its limits and criteria and I believe that prioritising this scheme for our older people is the right approach.

The Deputy also raised an issue in regard to the improvement works in lieu scheme. My Department provides funding to local authorities under this scheme so they can repair, improve or extend privately-owned houses that are occupied by people who are qualified for social housing, as an alternative to providing them with local authority housing. This makes sense. The Deputy is correct that it also takes them off the social housing lists and it maximises the usage of existing houses and sites, where possible. There is no rule under this scheme about cavity walls or stone built walls. What is in the criteria for the scheme is that improvement works to be funded by the local authority should be structurally sound, free from damp and weather-tight. This makes sense; nobody would expect a council to invest public money in a property if it does not consider it satisfies these requirements. If a council did this, it would rightly be criticised for not assessing the building and my Department would be criticised for funding it. There is no rule in regard to cavity or stone walls. If this has been cited as a reason for refusal of an application and the Deputy has examples of this I would be happy to review them.

The Deputy will appreciate that my Department is not involved in every assessment and every decision that a council makes on individual applications nor should it be. It is right and proper that such decisions rest with the local council but if the Deputy is unhappy about a particular case, he should raise it with the council directly. If the Deputy has a number of examples of where this has happened I will be happy to review them. There is no rule of the type mentioned by the Deputy.

The Department will continue to fund these two important schemes, the housing aid for older people scheme and the improvement works in lieu scheme, with the funding being targeted to those most particularly in need.

This is an issue close to the Acting Chairman's heart. We have increased the funding in that space this year, and rightly so. We are doing a great deal of good work here and we want to continue doing that.

See this speech in context