Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. He had some interesting answers, particularly regarding the issue of houses with stone walls. What I stated about it is a stipulation by our local authority and it said it was a Department rule. I will have to investigate that further.

The housing aid for older people scheme is a great scheme and it had ensured that many elderly people have been able to stay in their own homes. We really appreciate that. A person can be old at the age of 50 or 55. A women who was 102 years old contacted me by phone the other day and from my conversation with her she did not seem to be old. It is all about the way people interpret matters and their attitude. Some people on reaching the age of 50 can be in bad shape and not able to work as they were able to do when they were younger or they may not be able to get a job. We would like if such people could also stay in their homes. If matters improved a little, perhaps the age requirement for grant aid could be reduced. That is what I am asking for and that it be done as soon as possible, as those people would also like to stay in their homes.

We need to maximise the houses we have. Many houses are currently vacant but many of them are not fit to live in. I hope those houses are not being counted in the number of vacant houses because many of them are certainly not fit to live in. Even though some of these people are continuing to living in these houses, they are not fit for human habitation, having regard to the modern housing standards enjoyed by most people. If that rule for grant aid could be reduced to under the age of 60, it would help a good few people and keep them off the housing list.

A person can find a leak in a roof and on investigation more work may need to be done, which may be costly, and they may be afraid to do it, but repairing it can become more costly if the roof is not repaired when the leak is discovered. There is a good reason for reducing the age requirement. The Minister of State has made me wise about the stone wall issue. The answer I got from the local authority was that a house had to have cavity walls before it could be considered.

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