Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Boyhan's comments on the presentation in the audiovisual room yesterday. It was a very important presentation, and the Senator has made a very important intervention today.

I seek a debate with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I know we will have one next week, but the issue I wish to raise today is the housing adaptation, housing aid and disability grants through the local authorities. It is an issue I have raised numerous times in this House. I have had a number of Commencement matters on it. I have been told that a report has been completed and is with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform at the moment, but that report has now been with the Department for two years, in my understanding. My problem is that yesterday I visited a number of homes in Kildare in which the people are over 66 and therefore qualify for the grants. Their windows are falling out to the extent that they need replacement very quickly. The excellent staff we have in the local authorities, particularly in Kildare County Council, whom I deal with almost daily, tell me their money has run out. They have made an application and I believe some additional funding is on the way. If, however, we are to be serious about climate change and the challenges facing us, the Government must grasp as quickly as possible that this is a grant that has worked. It has worked for people to replace the windows and doors in their homes and to ensure their houses are insulated. It cannot take two years to get a report ready. It cannot take two years to ensure that the maximum number of homes are insured and insulated.

I ask the Deputy Leader to write to the Minister for an update on this matter. My colleague, Senator Conway, raised it as a Commencement matter last week. It has also been raised in the Dáil and, as I said, I have raised it a number of times through Commencement matters. It is necessary that we encourage people to avail of this grant and ensure they can insulate their homes. It has now got to the stage where Kildare County Council, the council with which I am most familiar, has put in qualification restrictions for the grant and those with double-glazed windows will have to wait an additional year to make an application. It is just not acceptable.

As I said, I visited a number of homes yesterday. There are people crying out for this. I ask the Deputy Leader, as I said, to write to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage about this. Maybe we could get him before the House specifically to discuss the grants available through his Department. The criteria make no sense but the grant could make such a difference to so many people. I ask that the Government act on this straight away.