Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. It is one he has consistently raised with me, my predecessors and the Government. To give the background, the Senator rightly referenced housing adaptation for older people and people with disabilities where there are three areas, namely, the mobility aids grant, the housing adaptation grant for older people and people with disabilities and the disabled persons' grant. These grants are to assist people in private houses to make their accommodation more suitable to their needs and are available to those with an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual disability and to older people who experience mobility issues or who require essential repairs to their homes in order that they can continue to live independently there. As the Senator is aware, the grants are 80% funded by the Department, with a 20% matching contribution from the local authority. Schemes are means-tested and are on a sliding scale with the highest percentage grant available to those with the lowest income, and vice versa. Obviously, the upper limit is income of €60,000. Detailed administration of these three schemes is the responsibility of the local authorities.

In 2022, extra funding of €65 million was made available for the payment of 12,000 grants, which compared favourably with a target of 10,700. The Exchequer funding of grants in 2023 was increased to €66.5 million. Each local authority received an increase on the 2022 allocation, continuing the year-on-year increases since 2014. The Senator is probably aware that I have secured an increase of €8 million for the current year, bringing the total allocation to deliver more than 13,000 grants up to €74.5 million. Thirteen local authorities have applied for increased funding this year and, to date, ten have had their applications approved. We are looking at the other three applications.

This is a scheme I very much believe in. As the Senator is probably aware, Housing for All contains a commitment to undertaking a review of the range of housing grants available to assist with meeting specific housing needs both for our ageing population and people with disabilities. A report on the review of the housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability has been prepared by the Department. I have gone through it in depth with the officials. On foot of that, we are 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 grant scheme. Any changes to the current scheme will be dependent on that engagement and on funding being made available for the scheme. It is a hugely important scheme. We also want to see the existing grants continuing.

The Senator made reference to construction inflation. In the review that was carried out we looked at thresholds around income and the level of the grant in terms of costs. This is something of which I am very conscious.

The scheme has been beneficial its introduction in 2007, supporting the delivery of over 136,000 grants up to the end of 2022. As of now we have a submission with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform following the review by my Department. I have looked at that review in great depth with my officials and we are in discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform on foot of those recommendations. In the Estimates process, I secured an increase of €8 million, which is about 12% on top of the existing level of funding. It is important to note we have issued additional funding this year above the €66.5 million that was granted for the year 2023 to ten local authorities to date and we are looking to approve applications from a further three as well.