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

When speaking to the Minister, I feel as if we are speaking to someone who has an understanding of and takes a practical, commonsense approach to the problems that are facing the people. As a result, I know that what we are saying is not falling on deaf ears. Keeping people in their own homes is the most important thing. Whether a person is getting old or their house is in disrepair, it is important to keep them living there for as long as possible. Their home is their castle and it is where they want to be. Adapting homes and making it more suitable is terribly important and an onerous responsibility. The whole way of assessing the grant aid allowable has to be looked at. If a younger person is living in the house with the older person who might want an essential repair grant or a disability grant, taking that younger person's income into account is unfair. They need their income to sustain themselves. Just because they live in the house should not go against the applicant. I would earnestly ask the Minister to look at that

While we appreciate every euro provided by our local authorities, the grants being allocated now are not enough because all the items used in construction have increased in price so much. When a person gets a grant of €5,000 they really should be getting €8,000 to keep up with what was there a couple of years ago. Those are the kinds of figures we are talking about. Whether it is our director of services for housing, Martin O'Donoghue, the contractors, subcontractors and people who work directly for Kerry County Council who go out and do repairs to houses, the engineers, the clerk of works or the girls in the office, I thank them all for the excellent work they do for the council on behalf of all of us.

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