Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government the allocations if any that have been made to local authorities by county in respect of home adaptation and essential repairs grants; the matching funds that have been indicated to him as available by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5717/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The housing adaptation grant schemes for older people and people with a disability, introduced in November 2007, replaced the discontinued disabled persons grant scheme, the essential repairs grant scheme and the special housing aid for the elderly scheme administered by the Health Service Executive.

The suite of grants include three separate grant measures - the mobility aids grant scheme with grants of up to €6,000; the housing aid for older people scheme with grants of up to €10,500; and the housing adaptation grant for people with a disability with grants of up to €30,000, depending on household income. These grant schemes are funded by 80% recoupment from my Department together with a 20% contribution from the resources of the local authority. It is a matter for each local authority to decide the specific level of funding to be directed to each of the various grant measures and to manage the operation of the schemes in their areas from within their allocation.

In order to determine the capital allocations for 2012, my Department requested local authorities to submit details of their funding requirements under the grant schemes by 20 January 2012. The information received is being examined at present and I intend to announce details of the capital allocations for the year at the earliest opportunity.

My Department also requested details of the matching funds to be provided by local authorities for the grants schemes in 2012. The overall level of local authority own resources funding available in 2012 is €18.649 million. A detailed breakdown, by local authority is in the following table.