Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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202. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if, given the increase in adaptation grants as announced in Budget 2025, it is a necessity of those who had previously applied under the old limits and were proceeding through the process, to submit a new application to their local authority. [5239/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides Exchequer funding to local authorities under the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People scheme, to assist people in private houses to make their accommodation more suitable for their needs. The grants include the Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People, the Mobility Aids Grant and the Housing Aid for Older People Grant, which are funded by my Department, with a contribution from the resources of the local authority. The detailed administration of the scheme including assessment, approval, prioritisation and budgetary apportionment is the responsibility of local authorities.

My Department carried out a review of the Housing the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People scheme including a review of the Means Test, and the Report on the Review is available on my Department’s website at the following link: gov.ie - Report on the Review of the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability (www.gov.ie)

The Housing (Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People) Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 612 of 2024), which came into effect on 1 December 2024, provide the legal basis for the introduction of the recommendations set out in the review. The key changes include an increase in the grant limits of over 30% and the income thresholds by 25% whilst also revising the means test. The legislation also adjusts the burden sharing for local authorities by reducing the local authority funding contribution to 15% (from the previous 20%).

The 2024 Regulations provide that the previous Regulations (S.I. 670 of 2007, S.I. 104 of 2014 and S.I. 361 of 2023) continue to apply to applications under those Regulations received by a local authority prior to 1 December 2024.