Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will extend a scheme which provides grant aid towards central heating for older persons to other local authorities (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36859/08]

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing Aid for Older People Scheme is administered by local authorities and is part of a revised framework of grant aid, introduced in November 2007, to assist older people and people with a disability with their accommodation needs. The Scheme, which amalgamates the provisions of the old Essential Repairs Grant Scheme and the scheme of Special Housing Aid for the Elderly Scheme (SHAE), is designed to provide targeted support to improve conditions in the existing housing of older people. The types of works allowable under the Housing Aid for Older People scheme are varied but may include central heating works.

The Scheme facilitates the implementation of a Government Decision, taken in February 2006, to transfer the SHAE from the Health Service Executive to my Department. That decision arose on foot of a recommendation made in the Core Functions of the Health Service Report that a more integrated service and better value for money may be achieved by transferring responsibility for the SHAE Scheme to the local authorities, who already had responsibility for the Essential Repairs and Disabled Persons Grant Schemes. The SHAE has been discontinued with effect from 1 August 2008.