Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Bill calls for standardisation, ease of access and time limits in respect of applications for housing adaptation grants and I support that call. However, if the matter of insufficient funding for the volume of applications in the system is not addressed, speeding up grants will be illusory. I refer to my experience with Louth County Council where there are 460 outstanding grant applications.

This includes 138 roll-overs from last year that could not be processed, as we were told, due to the lack of funding. Some 76 of those were deemed to be priority 1 and this year's allocation is inadequate to process all of those, including the roll-overs from last year.

I will provide a couple of examples. An elderly couple contacted my office about their application. The husband has a malignant tumour affecting his bowel and bladder. He also has epilepsy and breathing problems. His wife has steadily worsening mobility issues and other chronic illnesses. They have to use an upstairs bathroom. They submitted an application for a downstairs bedroom and bathroom in January 2018 and they were deemed by the council to be priority 1 in April 2018. The following month, they were told that the budget had been fully allocated for 2018 already. They were told that if the council did not receive additional funding then their application could not be processed until this year. I wrote to the council many times about their application and stressed that they are both seriously ill. Finally, this month they have been informed that the works will go ahead - 18 months after they first applied and both being deemed priority 1.

Another constituent had two hip operations and is unable to access his bath. He applied for a grant for an accessible shower and a stairlift. He was informed that the grant was approved in February 2018. In February of this year, 12 months later, I had to write to the council to query the delay. It responded to the effect that he is on a housing list, that the application for adaptation works had been added to the relevant waiting list and that it could not confirm a timeline for the commencement of those works.

Given that there are carryovers every year, funding is in no way sufficient to deal with the sheer volume of applications. People are struggling to perform basic daily tasks such as using the bathroom or even having a shower because they cannot access a bath. They are waiting years for downstairs bathrooms and showers to be fitted because of delays and insufficient funding. Priority 1 emergency cases are having to wait much longer. I have provided two examples but I could outline many others for the Minister of State. Some of the cases are really serious and it is shameful that people have been made to wait so long.

Not only must it to address matters relating to ease of access, time limits and standardisation, the Government must also address the fact that the funding available is insufficient. Tinkering around the edges is pointless if the funding is insufficient. That is one of the major issues in this regard.

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