Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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411. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the reason Meath County Council has not received its annual grant for housing aid for older persons; when the grant will be received; the amount involved and when the shortfall between the total amount of the grant and the need within the community will be covered. [16252/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The 2015 allocations in respect of the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability are currently under consideration in my Department and will issue shortly to all local authorities, including Meath County Council. Exchequer funding of over €37 million was provided by my Department for these grants last year and combined with an additional 20% contribution by individual local authorities, there was an overall spend of €46.3 million in this area. I am pleased to confirm that the 2015 amount will increase by some 10% to give a combined spend of €50.5 million.

Through careful management of my Department’s housing budget in 2014, additional funds were made available to local authorities with high levels of grant activity under this scheme. The same scrutiny will be applied to the capital budget for 2015 and, in the event of savings arising, opportunities will be examined to reallocate funds accordingly.