Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Regional Group for putting forward this motion. It is important that we talk about the disabled grants and the various grants that are available from local authorities. It has been striking that they have not been raised for discussion in the House in the form of Topical Issue matters and so on.

They are vitally important. In my Donegal County Council days in the early 2000s, as a result of the reduced amount of money that it was getting for grants every year, the council introduced a limit on what could be available for different types of works and stuff such as that. It was trying to extend the amount of money and make it reach more people, which actually reduced the effectiveness of the grants. That is a problem. We have to try to find a way to make the grants do what they are supposed to do and make them worthwhile applying for.

Of course, that comes back to the Department and increased funding. While the Department may say that the council can come up with money, 80% of the council’s funding comes from the Government in one way or another. As a result, there is very little room for councils to raise funding. There is the possibility of perhaps looking at some sort of a VAT rebate or something like that for people who apply for grants. Perhaps that could be a way of making it more effective and giving more to them. Something needs to be done. They are grants that are extremely important and that are needed right across the board. Only yesterday I was talking to a person in Letterkenny who got approval for a grant of €30,000, but the cost of the works had increased from €60,000 to €70,000 and is now approaching €80,000. That person who applied for the grant is on a disability allowance and cannot afford to make up the balance. How can they make up a €50,000 balance when they are on disability allowance? It is just not possible. That does not make it any easier for the Minister in terms of a set funding amount and trying to make that go as far as possible as well, but it is something that needs to be looked at and addressed.

There is also the matter of people who live in rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and similar housing. They are viewed as being dealt with by the local authorities. How can they access grants, etc.? That is important. In the context of its tenants, a council will pay the full amount. However, councils insist that people apply for the grants and go through the whole process themselves. That is despite the fact that the councils own the properties involved. I fail to see how that makes sense. It probably does in some bizarre way of accounting. A council can say that it is a matter for the tenant and that is how it goes about its business. However, it does not make sense and it is putting much of the onus on applicants to ensure that the grant is actually provided. That needs to be looked at. There are things that perhaps can be considered in terms of making the scheme more effective and workable for people. That is possible. I hope the Department will be looking at that to ensure that it goes further for people.

The Labour Party suggested that the HSE should be involved in the grant scheme. I would be loath to see that because it would be one way of making sure that nothing would happen, unless it is at a very high level where it would be carved off the HSE budget and handed over to the Department. That is the only way that I could see the HSE being involved. Donegal County Council involved the HSE and occupational therapists in order to look at the disabled persons grants and so on. That just stopped the grant scheme right away. The HSE did not see it as part of its core work, so it did not provide the staff. The council was insistent that it had to get staff from the HSE, however,and it just slowed the whole process down completely. I would be loath to involve the HSE.

The HSE is involved with disabled grants and disabled housing requirements at the moment. A great deal could be said for removing responsibility in that regard from the HSE and handing it over to the local authorities. The local authorities are geared up to look at housing and housing requirements for everybody. It should be part of the system. One aspect of the problem is that the HSE looks at somebody living at home with their parents as being sorted, even though they might be 40 or 50 and their parents are going into their 80s. There are going to be difficulties in this regard because these people are not sorted.

There are many problems with the scheme. There is no doubt about that. Accessing the scheme is becoming increasingly difficult. That is a false economy because the Government is not meeting any need, but it is providing funding. That means the Government gets bad press and becomes annoyed about it. Staff get annoyed about it as well, and the people cannot find any way forward.

Years ago, it was a scheme that made a big difference to people and their lives as well. How a disabled person can live at home is vitally important. The Minister will not have an easy task in making it work for people. In reality, it has to be made to work. There are tweaks and changes that can be introduced that will make it more reflective and easier for people to deal with as well.

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