Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Regional Group for tabling the motion. We all recognise this is an extremely important grant to help older people and people with disabilities to remain in their own homes and ensure they have a better quality of life. I want to raise a number of issues which other speakers have already mentioned, particularly with regard to the maximum limit. This is way too low given the situation in the industry at present. Costs are spiralling through the roof. It is now 12 years since there has been an increase. This needs to be addressed.

I have a constituent who is in receipt of a disability payment. She will not work again. She owns her own home. She has applied for the housing adaptation grant and the grant for older people with disabilities. She is under 66 years of age but the criteria state there are exceptions for those aged under 66 who cite hardship. The person has been refused on the basis that she is not 66 years of age.

Part of the council's response was that hardship cases can be considered where the person is under the age of 66 and regard given to the condition of the property to bring it up to standard to ensure that older persons can remain living in their home and do not have to transfer to a care centre. Unfortunately, the council does not specify what the lower end of the age under 66 is for hardship cases. It does not clearly define what it means by "hardship". It is difficult for people to appeal when they do not know what they are appealing against, they do not know what the age limit is, and they do not know what the definition of "hardship" is. I would appreciate if we could connect and maybe do something for this person.

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