William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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551. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will increase the allocation to Laois County Council, for the housing adaptation grant scheme for older people and people with disabilities, in view of significant demand, increasing costs, and the essential role these grants plays in enabling people to live safely and independently in their homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38772/25]

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

The Exchequer funding available for these grants in 2025 has been 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. Laois County Council received an Exchequer allocation of over €1.86 million, an increase of 36% on the original allocation in 2024.

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 recently considered and approved a further Exchequer allocation provision of over €177,000 in 2025 for Laois County Council.

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 in the highest priority cases and further information in this regard would be available directly from the local authorities.