Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 542: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if there is grant assistance available to persons who wish to remove and destroy asbestos from their general housing environment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5985/07]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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There are no specific grants available from my Department or local authorities for the removal of asbestos in housing. There are, however, a number of targeted options currently available to assist especially vulnerable groups such as lower income households and elderly persons to secure necessary improvement works to their houses. These include the local authority house improvement loan scheme, the essential repairs grant scheme and the improvement works in lieu of local authority housing scheme, all administered by local authorities, and the Task Force on Special Housing Aid for the Elderly which is administered by the Health Service Executive.

The Essential Repairs Grant and the Special Housing Aid for the Elderly Grant schemes have been reviewed recently and will be replaced by the Scheme of Housing Aid for Older People, to be administered by local authorities, during 2007.

An information leaflet, Asbestos in Your Home, is available free of charge from ENFO, my Department's environmental information service. I have arranged for a copy to be forwarded to the Deputy.