Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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71. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown by county of the 5,700 housing adaptation grants as announced in Budget 2014 to assist older persons and persons with disabilities. [44854/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Abridged Estimate for my Department, published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in Expenditure Report 2014, includes some €28.6 million in respect of the suite of Grants for Older People and People with a Disability. It is estimated that this will provide grant assistance to some 5,700 households in 2014. The Estimates provision will be supplemented by the recently announced €10 million in additional funding for this measure, giving an overall provision in 2014 of €38.6 million, some €4.3 million more than the initial Exchequer allocation in 2013. The increased allocation will facilitate the payment of more than 7,800 grants to assist older people and people with disabilities to remain at home for longer.

I intend to announce details of the capital allocations to local authorities early in 2014. Allocations will be based on the level of activity within local authorities, the level of contractual commitments in respect of approved grants where work is on-going at present or about to commence and the level of applications on hand and anticipated in the course of 2014.