Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We move now to our second Topical Issue matter query from Deputies McAuliffe and O'Dowd, who are anxious to discuss the need for additional funding for housing adaptation grants to enable local authorities to clear waiting lists, and so say all of us for all of the country. I think the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is here to deal with the matter.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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Yes, I am indeed.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Ceann Comhairle has said, the housing adaptation grants are a well-understood tool that many of us in our constituency offices or during our time in local authorities would have used to support people to stay in their homes and avoid adding to the requirement for more permanent residential supports. It is one of the more successful schemes that local authorities operate, in that it supports people to live independently.

ALONE and other agencies, however, have highlighted that several local authorities could not meet the needs of all their applicants in previous years. Many of them have significant waiting lists and budget overspends. In my area, for example, and Deputy O'Dowd will speak about his, Dublin City Council, DCC, has 203 applications on its waiting list, while Fingal County Council has 194 on its. These local authorities have already spent 99% of their annual budgets. Turning to South Dublin County Council, it has 95 applications on its waiting list and it has spent 70% of its budget. Nationwide, local authorities do not always keep waiting lists, but several have hundreds of people on unapproved application waiting lists. Many have closed their processes, including in counties Louth, Meath and Monaghan.

This is a scheme that works well. We understand that increased costs have occurred. The Department has a huge capital budget, and rightly so for Housing for All. A portion of this needs to be applied to local authorities to support them to ensure more people can avail of the scheme and that any delay is not because of financial reasons but because of the time needed to process the applications.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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The applicants fall into three different categories. The first is priority one, where the applicant is terminally ill, needs a full-time family carer or where adaptation of facilities will allow discharge from hospital. Most of the applications I deal with are priority two, where people are mobile but need assistance in accessing washing and toilet facilities and bedrooms, and where, without the adaptations, the disabled person's ability to function independently is hindered absolutely and unacceptably. It is not, therefore, a good system because it is not working well. There are 3,500 known applicants waiting for the county council to give them the money to go ahead.

Part of the problem is that the county councils have to provide 20% of the funding themselves. I think the Minister of State has a report on his desk which was promised by the end of 2022. I got a reply in June that it would be published imminently, but it remains hidden like the third secret of Fatima. What the hell is going on in the Minister of State's Department? Why is the money not being spent? There is a golden opportunity now to address an appalling wrong. Looking at the television recently, I saw a middle-aged or elderly man going upstairs with a disability who was barely able to move. He was breathless and harassed by the lack of accommodation for him downstairs. We need to replicate that situation some 3,500 times.

In my county, there are 562 applicants on a waiting list. This is a shocking figure, but, wait for it, Louth County Council, in its wisdom, decided some months ago that anybody else who applies can take their applications back and apply again on 1 January 2024. I have met many of these people and this situation is entirely and absolutely unacceptable. The Minister of State's report should identify how the system must change. It must insist on equality of treatment, regardless of where anyone lives or what county they may be in, and whether they are on the waiting list. If people fall into priorities one, two and three, then they should get their grants, and this should be the beginning and the end of it.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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We have an opportunity in this budget to put this right and I hope the Minister of State does.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Can the Minister of State reveal the secret of the report?

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I am not sure if I can, but I will try to-----

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Well, where is it?

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage provides funding to local authorities under the housing adaptation grants for the older people and people with a disability schemes to assist people in private houses to make their accommodation more suitable for their needs. These grants are available to people with an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual disability, and to older people who experience mobility issues or require essential repairs to their houses so they can continue to live independently at home. The detailed administration of the scheme, including assessment, approval, prioritisation and apportionment, is the responsibility of the local authorities. In 2022, almost €86 million in funding was made available to facilitate the payment of over 12,000 grants, which compares favourably to the target of over 10,700 grants.

The Department works closely with the local authorities to monitor spending and to achieve a full drawdown of available funding. This means that any underspends that arise on the part of any local authority can be redistributed to other authorities which have high levels of grant activity and the Department makes every effort to redistribute such funding throughout the year. The Department encourages all local authorities to ensure all applications on hand are processed to the degree possible for final payment to ensure optimal spend on their annual allocation. Throughout 2023, the Department has continued to approve additional funding to local authorities, with ten local authorities, including Louth County Council, receiving approval for additional funding so far in 2023, with further requests currently under review.

In 2022, Louth County Council received an allocation of almost €2.25 million and spent just over €1.35 million. During 2023, Louth County Council received approval for a further allocation of over €570,000 in Exchequer funding, bringing its total Exchequer funding to over €2.4 million. On foot of this additional funding, the Department has been informed by Louth County Council that it is preparing to reopen its schemes by mid-October, which is very welcome. I am sure the Deputy will welcome this news.

Housing for All commits to undertaking a review, as has been stated, of the range of housing grants available to assist with meeting specific housing needs for our ageing population and people with a disability. The report on the review of the housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability has been prepared by the Department. Among the areas which the review considered are the income thresholds and the grant limits. I think this report is due to be published very shortly.

This Department is engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform on the recommendations in the review report. The objective of this engagement is to deliver on the emerging recommendations and ensure continued enhancement of this successful and important grant scheme. Any changes to the current scheme will be dependent on that engagement and on further funding being made available to the Department through the ongoing Estimates process, which has not concluded yet.

Deputy McAuliffe raised the number of applicants, including 203 in DCC, 194 in Fingal County and 95 in South Dublin County Council. There are significantly high numbers. Even in my local authority, demand always outstrips the grant funding available, recognising the 20% that must be made available through local authorities. This scheme is very important, however, and our Department, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, are determined to get this right and ensure it meets the changing circumstances, including the rising costs of materials and labour in particular. I think the report and, hopefully, some of the ongoing discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform will bring about a more positive realignment of these grant schemes.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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This is not a successful scheme in Westport, where there is a lady who, according to the ALONE survey, is confined to the top floor of her house while awaiting a grant. It is not a successful scheme in Galway, where older people are waiting for money approved in 2022. A woman who is a high-priority case is housebound because she cannot leave her third-floor apartment without works first being completed to facilitate this. She has been waiting since 2022, and lives in social housing. ALONE staff have described the situation as "barbaric". Similar cases have been highlighted elsewhere by staff, including in Dublin.

I do not doubt the integrity or intentions of the Minister of State, but I found the last part of his response did not really give me the facts because it referred to the "emerging recommendations". I think we need to publish them. We need to have representatives of ALONE and other groups and people who care about older people and those with disabilities discuss these issues and have a factual, truthful analysis. We need to get the money for all these families and all these people, and get it now.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with Deputy O'Dowd. I think of Willie Bermingham, the founder of ALONE, who established that charity to transform the lives of people who were forgotten. For every person who receives these grants, their life is transformed. However, this also means that for every person who does not receive a grant, their life is limited. We must ensure the financial steps are in place to address that. I have no doubt the review deals with some of the other obstacles people face. Increasingly, it is difficult to hire tradespeople. People are vulnerable in seeking quotes from different people, in not being able to secure quotes and in trying to secure an occupational therapy report and additional reports. There is far more we can do with this scheme. The Department could help to put together panels and have staff available to carry out occupational therapy reports. There is much more that can be done. We should not forget that this scheme saves the State money by ensuring people do not have to go into residential care. I have no doubt the Minister of State wants to see the recommendations of the report published. I want to make sure the Ministers, Deputies Michael McGrath and Donohoe, put money in the budget to get something done on this issue.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I reiterate that demand for the grants has been consistently high, which is testament to their success since first being introduced in 2007. With 136,000 grants given up to the end of 2022, a lot of people are being helped. There is no doubt there are significant challenges, as Deputy McAuliffe said, brought about largely by increased demand, with an ageing population, and the additional costs being placed on labour and materials. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is committed to ensuring the review will bring about changes that are necessary to these important grant schemes, and to the ongoing discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform around the funding element. The numbers Deputy McAuliffe provided are very high. It is critically important that there is sufficient support for the local authorities to deliver them. He made some good suggestions and it might be useful to take them forward to the joint housing committee, of which he is a member, for a broader discussion. It is a busy committee but it might be worthwhile to have a deeper dive into the issues and to tweak these hugely important schemes to ensure we get them right and they are fit for purpose to meet the demands of the very vulnerable people who need them the most.