Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 516: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Kildare County Council cannot process further housing adaptation grants for disabled persons in housing and the older persons grants due to the fact that prior commitments have exhausted its 2009 allocation; and his views on its request for further funding. [22585/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Allocations totalling €79.562 million for 2009 were notified to local authorities under the Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a Disability, the Mobility Aids Grant Scheme and the old Disabled Persons and Essential Repairs Grant Schemes on 7 May 2009. The 2009 allocation to Kildare County Council amounts to €1,870,000 compared to an initial allocation of €1,642,680 in 2008, an increase of almost 14%. The administration of the grant schemes and decisions on individual applications in Kildare are the responsibility of Kildare County Council.

At this stage, I do not envisage making further allocations to local authorities in respect of the operation of these schemes in 2009. However, I will review the funding position later in the year, in the event of any under-spend by local authorities of their allocations for the grant schemes or other allocations under the wider social housing investment programme.