Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While we are giving commitments, will the Minister of State give a commitment that once the review is announced, both the funding and the thresholds will be increased for this year? To give an example, Wicklow County Council found that five of the 11 possible adaptation grants under the mobility aid grant are now priced at a standard above the threshold. Cork City Council had to return €500,000 of the €1.5 million it received because, and this is my reading of it, local authorities do not have the extra funding to carry out the work. This grant has not been increased since 2010. We talk about looking after the elderly and trying to keep people living in their homes. A friend of mine whose wife was ill recently and in hospital for more than two months could not be bothered to apply for the grant. He said he wanted to get his wife out of hospital and home as quickly as possible. He and his friends went away and built an extension because they did not trust the Government or local authority and did not want his wife to have to stay in hospital when she should be at home.

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