Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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19. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to conduct a review of the terms and conditions of the housing grant scheme to allow local authorities to use discretion in the awarding of house repair grants for older persons, such as in the case in which a person has transferred ownership of their home over to one of their children but they will still continue to live in their home in order that they would be entitled to apply for and receive grant approval for works on the merits of their own income; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45308/17]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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For the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability, household income is calculated as the annual gross income in the previous tax year of all household members over 18, or over 23 if in full-time education, with the exclusion of Family Income Supplement, Domiciliary Care Allowance and Carer's Benefit or Carer's Allowance if paid in respect of the person to whom the grant application relates. Also €5,000 is disregarded for each member of the household up to 18 years.

The terms and conditions governing the schemes were examined in 2013 by a review group that included representatives of grant beneficiaries and the local authorities. They considered how the benefits of the grants could be spread as widely as possible and to achieve fairness and value for money in the grants process. Arising from the recommendations of the review group, the income requirements for the schemes were revised in 2014 to bring the criteria in line with the assessment of need for social housing and to focus the grants towards those with the greatest needs. I have no plans to further revise the criteria at this time. 

My main focus in respect of these schemes is in seeking to spread their benefits by further increasing the funding. For 2017, funding has been increased by a further 6% to €59.8m overall. Some 8,000 households benefitted under this Scheme in 2016, and with this additional funding, this should increase to 10,000 in 2017. A further increase in funding will be provided in the 2018 allocations.