asked the Minister for the Environment the number of applicants in south Tipperary who are still awaiting payment in respect of the following: (i) £1,000 new house grant, (ii) house improvement grant, (iii) grants to reduce dependence on oil and (iv) water and sewerage grants; and when payment can be expected in each case.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Grant Applications.
8.
The records kept in my Department do not enable the information required to be readily provided. In view of the number of applications at various stages of processing, including those out for inspection, the time required to compile the information would be excessive and could not be justified.
I am totally dissatisfied with the Minister's reply. It should not be beyond the compass of his civil servants to itemise the number of applicants under each of the four headings.
For grant purposes Tipperary is all one county, both North and South Riding, and they are not separately recorded. That is the position in regard to that. We do not keep a separate index of any county or corporation area either.
Surely, with addresses in South Tipperary, the Minister's officials should be able to provide this information?
I do not see the necessity for that information. But if the Deputy is interested in a particular case I will be only too glad to check that for him and give him any information he may need in regard to it.
I am interested in hundreds of cases under each heading. The main purpose in my putting down this question was to elicit from the Minister information as to when these grants would be paid. The Minister must be aware of the financial hardship caused many young couples awaiting payment of these grants. These people have bridging loans at exorbitant interest rates from the banks and they are coming to me daily, as to other public representatives, inquiring when their grants will be paid. Can the Minister give me any indication as to when these applicants can expect to be paid?
I could not, the reason being that I do not know whether they are out with the inspector, whether the work has been completed, whether the work has been satisfactorily completed. All of these matters must be looked into, as I am sure the Deputy is aware. But, as I said, if the Deputy will let me have details of the applications of his constituents I will have them processed as quickly as possible.
In view of the failure of the Department to make available the information sought by Deputy Griffin would it be possible for the Minister, in response to a question, to provide the details of the two categories for each county or local borough, that is, the number of loan applications made and the number that have been paid, leaving out the intermediary stages of inspection and so on?
That would involve considerable cost and would also completely disrupt the administration of the Department. At this point I would not be prepared to do that.
Could the Minister indicate to the House what administration there is of housing grants? The reason this question was put down in the first place was that the grants are not being paid, and we cannot get any information from the Minister of State now.
In June last I was accused of informing some TDs and of not informing others about payments; indeed, I was told I was paying none. In the end it seemed I was paying a lot of money. Actually I had not sufficient money and had to go back to the Government for more.
The Minister of State has just refused to answer a question.
I did not.
The Minister refused to give it.
Would the Minister please reply to Question No. 9
If the Deputy wants any information on any grant I am prepared to give it to him.
Is there a shortage of money over there now?
9.
asked the Minister for the Environment when the outstanding £350 of the grant for reconstruction and a water pump will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny.
An instalment of £300 in respect of improvement works and the full grant of £350 in respect of water and sewerage installations were paid in December 1979.
My Department is awaiting notification from the applicant that the improvement work is complete. When this is received, an inspection will be arranged with a view to payment of the balance of £300 of that grant.
10.
asked the Minister for the Environment when the new house grant will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Carlow, who applied for the grant in February 1980 and who had not yet received any acknowledgment from his Department to date.
There is no record in my Department of the receipt of a new house grant application from the person named. However, I have arranged for the necessary application form and other documents to be sent to him.
Question Nos. 11 and 12 are gone for written reply.
13.
asked the Minister for the Environment the up-to-date position of an application for a reconstruction grant for a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary.
There is no record of the receipt in my Department of an application form for a house improvement grant from the person named and she has been so informed on numerous occasions. She recently forwarded an application for an essential repairs grant and this has been transmitted to the county council, who administer this scheme of grants.
I hope that is satisfactory.
This lady maintains that she submitted an application to the Minister's Department for a house improvement grant. She is a widow living alone and she is being pressed by the contractor who gave her the materials to enable her to carry out the improvements for payment and this has been going on now for at least two or three years.
If the Deputy can get me any information in regard to that matter I will have it sympathetically considered.
The Minister must be aware, from representations made to him by Members of the House, that this is a recurring complaint. I have had the experience on a number of occasions of the Department maintaining they have not received applications.
This question relates to a specific case in County Tipperary.
If there is evidence of that and if the Deputy will bring it to my notice I will have it investigated.
How is there evidence if the Minister's Department did not even receive them? I might add that even applications posted by me personally have not been received.
I cannot account for that. I am not responsible for the post.