Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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495. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is aware that Louth County Council has had to limit access to housing adaptation grants and related schemes; if there are plans to provide additional resources to Louth County Council and other local authorities to meet demand for such schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33788/25]

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 suite of grants include the Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People, the Mobility Aids Grant and the Housing Aid for Older People Grant, which are now 85% funded from the Exchequer, with a 15% contribution from the resources of the local authority under the revised scheme which commenced from 1 December 2024. The detailed administration of the scheme including assessment, approval, prioritisation and budgetary apportionment is the responsibility of local authorities.

The Exchequer funding available for these grants in 2025 increased substantially by €25 million to €99.5 million, or over €117 million when accounting for the local authority contribution,, continuing the year on year increases since 2014.

Louth County Council received an Exchequer allocation for 2025 of almost €2.7 million which is an increase of 36% on the 2024 original allocation. Louth County Council informed my Department that the local authority paused the acceptance of priority 2 and priority 3 applications but are continuing to consider priority 1 applications. Priority 1 is defined as individuals who are terminally ill, primarily dependent on family or a carer, or where adaptations to the home would support applicants leaving hospital or residential care.

My Department works closely with the local authorities to monitor spend and to achieve a full drawdown of available funding. This means that any underspends that arise on the part of any local authority can be redistributed to other authorities which have high levels of grant activity and my Department makes every effort to redistribute such funding throughout the year.

My Department advises local authorities annually that, as far as practicable, a percentage of the allocation under the schemes should be ring fenced in respect of any emergency applications which might arise under these schemes during the course of the year. Consequently, all local authorities manage their schemes to ensure access to the grants programme is maintained to the extent possible throughout the year on a priority basis.