Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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268. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans for a review of the housing adaptation grant; if consideration has been given to changing the financial criteria in respect of the income for all persons; if so, the proposed changes; his views on whether the €30,000 limit is regarded as adequate, in view of construction inflation; if not, if new limits are envisaged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32052/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I have no plans to further review the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability, given that the terms and conditions governing the grants, including the income limits, were revised in 2014. My main focus currently in respect of these grants is in seeking to spread their benefits by further increasing the funding, as has been done for 2017, with a 6% increase bringing an overall funding availability of €59.8m nationally. Some 8,000 households benefitted under this Scheme in 2016, and with this additional funding, an increased number of households should benefit in 2017.

There are no current plans to increase the upper limit of the grant from €30,000. The average individual amount paid under this grant is already lower than the €30,000 upper limit and the current arrangement, therefore, serves to spread the benefits of the available funding to a higher number of recipients.