Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have all been inundated in our constituency offices by people looking for adaptation grants and those on the waiting lists. I spoke to the council this week. Generally there has been a two-year backlog. It has probably reduced to a year and a half. In fairness the absolute majority of people on the lists are top priority and this is the reality. We all know we are dealing with spiralling prices and costs. There are supply chain issues that can create difficulties even where builders are on site. This will create wider difficulties with housing and even the targets that have been set. We are always constrained by the lack of housing, whether this is social housing or the wider housing supply.

I want to deal with the issue of severe disability. I have dealt with a number of cases but I am thinking of one specifically that related to a family offered a housing adaptation grant. I have spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about this. I believe she has been in contact with the office of the Minister on the issue to try to work out a solution. These people have been offered €30,000 and more to put in a hoist. The case involves a teenager who is severely disabled and getting older and bigger. This is causing increasing logistical issues for the family. I hope we can find a roadmap for the people in this case for more money to be released. If the State did not have the parents to look after this child and was solely responsible for the care it would involve a huge amount of money. It would also be societally wrong and all that goes with it.

In some cases we deal with houses that are not necessarily suited to these changes. We need a wider supply of a universal design. Beyond this there may be a wider need for the HSE to play a part. There may be a need for very specific funding. On some level an awful lot of these issues are thrown on the local authorities. There needs to be a wider solution. We need to look at how we do this.

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