Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the progress being made by each of the relevant local authorities on their allocations for housing aid for older people and mobility aid grants; if local authorities have allocated their entire allocation for 2012; if the budget for 2011 is exhausted; if he has plans to recoup unspent allocations from those local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43874/12]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Exchequer allocations for 2012 totalling some €54.2 million were notified to local authorities in February 2012 in respect of the Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a Disability. Some €33.4 million (61%) of this has been drawn down to date by local authorities.

My Department’s involvement relates primarily to the recoupment of a proportion of local authority expenditure on the payment of the individual grants. The grants schemes are funded by 80% recoupment available from my Department together with a 20% contribution from the resources of the local authority. It is a matter for each local authority to determine how the funding is apportioned between the various grant measures and to manage the operation of the schemes in their areas from within the allocations provided by my Department.

All the funding allocated in 2011 was fully spent. My Department monitors expenditure under these schemes on an on-going basis and any savings resulting from an under-spend by local authorities of their 2012 allocation will be made available for re-allocation to authorities whose allocations have been fully spent.