Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 370: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the number of applications under the housing adaptation schemes which had to be returned to applicants due to a lack of funding both throughout the State and in south Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40259/09]

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 for Older People and People with a Disability, the Mobility Aids Grant Scheme and the former Disabled Persons and Essential Repairs Grant Schemes on 7 May 2009. In the case of South Tipperary County Council, the 2009 allocation amounted to €1,530,000 compared to an initial allocation of €1,343,550 in 2008, an increase of almost 14%.

While my Department has not been formally advised of any local authorities having discontinued the schemes in their areas, they are very heavily subscribed and available funding has been heavily committed in many areas. Having regard to this, and the continued priority which the Government attaches to the schemes, and following an evaluation of the ongoing level of demand for grants, the level of expenditure to date and the capacity of local authorities to process and approve additional applications in the current year, I approved a supplementary allocation of approximately €12.5 million to some 26 local authorities on 12 October, 2009. In that context, South Tipperary County Council received a supplementary allocation of €663,750, bringing its total allocation for 2009 to €2,193,750.