Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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1516. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the action he will take to ensure that adequate funding is provided to local authorities to deal with the demand for the housing aid for older persons scheme, the mobility aids housing grant scheme and the housing adaptation grant for persons with a disability; the action his Department will take to reduce and streamline application processing times and if he will review the current means test for this scheme (details supplied). [33457/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The allocations to local authorities under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability were announced on 16 January 2014.  Every local authority received increased funding for grants compared to the 2013 allocations.

My Department monitors the levels of grant activity in each authority and this is a factor in t h e allocation of funding.

Changes to the terms and conditions of the grant schemes were notified to local authorities in January 2014 as a result of the work of a review group established by my Department in 2013. These changes are spreading the benefits of the schemes as widely as possible and improving fairness and value for money in their operation. Accordingly, I have no plans to review the current means test for this scheme.

I expect an additional 800 households to benefit under the schemes in 2014 compared to 2013, when 7,011 households were supported. I am aware that the grant measures are heavily subscribed across local authority areas and my Department will be requesting authorities, where necessary, to prioritise those applications where the most urgent need exists.

The detailed administration of these schemes is the responsibility of the relevant local authority. This includes all aspects of the assessment, approval and payment of grants to applicants under the various grant measures.