Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to return to a few things mentioned by the Minister of State. We accept that increases have been given for grants but it is important to say that the increases do not reflect the increases in the costs.

Second, the grant for housing adaptation is a maximum of €30,000. I have cases in my constituency where people have acquired injuries, whether they had an accident, a brain haemorrhage or tumour, and they are now confined to a wheelchair. There are trying to adapt their house to make it fit for independent living and €30,000 will not cut mustard in that situation. People have to borrow money in order to try to live in their own houses and live independently. We need to build discretion into the scheme at director of service level or at a higher engineering level within the local authorities so that in a case where the costs are much higher and where the works would ensure that a person could live independently in his or her house, that that discretion is left with the local authority to make a call on. It is very important that we have that flexibility. A €30,000 cap is very stringent.

Likewise, with housing aid for older people capped at €8,000 at the moment, it is important to recognise that to replace windows, which are probably single-glazed teak windows which are leaking air and heat by the new time, or the back door and front door of a house, there will be very little change from €8,000. That is the key message we are giving here.

Likewise, €3,000 for the mobility aid grants is a very small amount of money. It is important that is put into the equation of the scheme. This scheme does not need to be turned upside down. The basis and the fundamentals of it are right but we need to ensure that it is fit-for-purpose.

Similarly, if one takes the local authority housing stock where we have people with disabilities living in them, the local authorities are very slow to make the necessary adjustments be it, for example, an extension with a ground floor en suite bedroom to allow a child or person to sleep in his or her own house. I know of people who are sleeping on the couch in their sitting rooms because they cannot access upstairs and are waiting.

One particular young woman who is now entering third level education is waiting for a house extension so that she can have an en suite bedroom downstairs. This is a basic requirement and has not happened. Now, after about seven years of waiting, of surveys and of reports, including occupational therapist, OT, reports, pointing to what should be done, the talk now is of taking the entire family out of that house and relocating them into a bungalow. It is a disgrace that we have that kind of attitude at this time.

Basically, the local authorities’ resources are not adequate to meet the increase in demand. This increase is coming because we have an ageing population. The entire programme for Government and policies we make are all about keeping people in their homes for longer. This scheme can and has been helping people to do that but we need to ensure that we do not let it fall by the wayside and become what I would call dysfunctional because we are not keeping pace with the changes that are happening in society and to our ageing population, together with the increases that are happening in the cost of doing the works.

We also need to ensure that we deal with this in a very humane way. We are doing that in the local authorities and I know the stress that the local authority staff are under in trying to cope with the onslaught or avalanche of applications which are coming in. The headline in the local newspapers last week that Galway County Council had run out of funding sent a shockwave through many people who had applications on the system and who do not know if they are going to get money through the grants to do this work.

It is important that we keep up the momentum and make sure this scheme remains fit for purpose.

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