John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Following on from my colleague Senator Burke, something I raised on the Order of Business last week and on which I had hoped a Commencement matter would be taken either yesterday or today is the issue of people who did not register their septic tanks before 1 February 2013 and are excluded from the grant scheme referred to by Senator Burke. These may be people who did not own the property in 2013 and have since bought one in 2016, 2017, 2018 or 2019. Because the previous owners of that property did not register the septic tank on 1 February 2013, the current owners are excluded from the grant scheme. I understand a review is under way but I must put on record that I was very disappointed that when I wrote to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, in respect of this matter to highlight it on the basis of a water quality issue, even though the grant scheme is operated by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, my correspondence with the Minister was just forwarded to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. That is inadequate to me. This is a water quality issue and it is something on which his Department should be engaging with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to try to bring those excluded into the scheme.

The second point I wish to highlight is the importance of the review of the disabled persons grant scheme, which is also being carried out currently by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. These grants are essential for older persons to enable them to remain in their homes for longer. This is dragging on at this stage. It is not just a case of increasing the grant amounts so that more works can be covered by this but also that the quantum of grant support being given to local authorities is inadequate. In the context of the budget surpluses we have at the moment, the fact these are one-off grant measures means that the Government has the ability to fund local authorities with an extra block grant this year. This has to happen quickly. There is no point in giving it to local authorities in October or November and telling them they must have it spent by the end of the year. That is not a reality. They need to get that extra grant support now to be able to support older persons and those with disabilities to remain longer in their homes.