Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 1355: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when the present ceiling for the grant to accommodate a person with a disability was set; the increase in the value of this grant if it were to have maintained value in line with the index of building costs over the intervening period; his views on the need to update this grant in order that persons can carry out the necessary work. [24785/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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With effect from December 2001, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government recoups to local authorities two thirds of their expenditure on disabled persons grants to a maximum of €13,547 in each individual case. The local authority pays the remaining one third, thereby giving an effective maximum grant under the scheme of €20,320. The grant can cover up to 90% of the cost of the works to private houses and may cover the full cost of the works for local authority tenants. The house building cost index increased by 10.4% from December 2001 to August 2005. Applying this level of increase to the above the maximum effective grant would yield a figure of €22,433. However, depending on the works being carried out, in many cases the maximum grant may not be required to be paid. In 2004, some 5,222 disabled persons grants were paid at a cost of €45,814,000. The mean grant paid in 2004 was at a level of €8,773, significantly lower than the effective maximum grant of €20,320.

The disabled persons grant scheme is intended, like several other housing grant schemes operated by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to assist works which provide additional or adapted accommodation in private houses. However, it is not designed to cover the full cost of works for all applicants. Local authorities may provide reconstruction loans to qualified applicants who have difficulty in obtaining finance to meet the balance of the cost. The disabled persons' grant scheme is important in assisting the provision of appropriate accommodation of disabled persons in the community. It is essential that the available funding be directed to those persons in greatest need of such assistance.