Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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568. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the action he is taking 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; to reduce and streamline application processing times; and if he will review the current means test for these schemes, given that the current system places an unfair financial burden on applicants. [32796/15]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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582. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to allocate further funding towards housing adaptation, mobility, and housing aid for the elderly grants to compensate for the cuts local authorities have experienced in these grants since 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33155/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 568 and 582 together.

I am aware of the social benefit accruing from the Housing Adaptation grant schemes in terms of facilitating the continued independent occupancy of their own homes by older people and people with a disability. For that reason, I increased the funding available for the schemes in 2015 which, at €50.5 million, is an increase of some 10% on last year. I trust that this increase will enable local authorities to deliver an increased level of service to their citizens. I expect that some 8,000 households will benefit under the schemes in 2015.

My Department works with local authorities to ensure a full drawdown of their allocation. 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. I will be applying the same scrutiny to the capital budget for 2015 and, in the event of savings arising , these grants will be a priority for supplementary funding.

At local level, the detailed administration and processing of these Schemes, including the assessment, approval and payment of individual grants to applicants, is the responsibility of the relevant local authority.

The income limits for the scheme were last amended in 2014 arising from the recommendations of a review group and I have no plans to revise them further.  A priority for the scheme is to spread the benefits as widely as possible and ensure fairness and value for money in their operation. The scheme is therefore more sharply focussed towards households with greatest needs, especially lower income households.