asked the Minister for the Environment whether he is aware that Cork County Council are unable to pay supplementary grants because of a shortage of funds; and whether he will take steps to provide funds for the Council for this purpose as soon as possible.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Supplementary Housing Grants.
14.
I understand that while no problems exist in this regard in the county health district of North and South Cork, the Cork (West) County Council are awaiting the issue of monies from the Local Loans Fund to enable them to meet further expenditure on supplementary housing grants. I propose to authorise the issue of £65,000 to the council in early April.
Will the Minister agree that it is a disgraceful state of affairs that an individual who is legally and morally entitled to a grant cannot get that grant because the local authority have not the money to pay it?
I am making every effort to help out in this respect and the necessary moneys will issue in early April.
Will the Minister deal with the point I raised? This question is prompted by a specific case where a man has been waiting for six months, having been told that he will receive a grant, but the county council have not the necessary money.
A capital allocation of £8,319,000 was made to Cork County Council for the payment of house purchase, improvement and low rise mortgage grants in 1981 and a copy of the notification was sent to the council. As councils go, Cork County Council are doing extremely well and I do not begrudge it to them.
Bearing in mind that the Government are the main source of local authority funds, is it not disgraceful that a man should have to wait six months for a grant to which he has been informed he is entitled, having cleared all the paper work and done everything necessary to qualify?
In several cases it has been found that the paper work has not been done. I cannot say what the demand will be in the future.
A final supplementary from Deputy O'Keeffe.
When it was drawn to the attention of the Minister at the end of last year that money was not available to pay grants which the council were legally and morally obliged to pay, why did the Minister not make funds available to the local authority?
I have no great complaints, if any, from Cork County Council.
15.
asked the Minister for the Environment if he will consider changing the deadline of 31 December, which was set for the payment of supplementary grants under the old system, as some local authorities did not forward supplementary grant forms until they had been notified that the Department had paid their part to the applicant; and if he is aware that as a result a large number of people are denied their grant through no fault of their own.
Supplementary grants under the old schemes of new house and reconstruction grants may continue to be paid only where an application for payment of the grant was received by the appropriate housing authority on or before 31 December 1980. Adequate public notice was given of the latest application date for those schemes, and I have no proposals to change these dates.
Will the Minister not accept that there are a certain number of cases where applicants would clearly have qualified had they not missed the closing date? In those circumstances would he not agree that they ought be allowed to have their applications processed?
No. I am satisfied that a notice was published in all the daily newspapers that payment had to be claimed before 31 December 1979. If I did what the Deputy has suggested I would have to amend the Housing Acts.
Is the Minister aware that in the case of certain county councils they do not send out application forms until they have been notified that the State has paid its share of the grant? Will the Minister state what is the lapse of time between payment of the grant and notification to the local authority? Some county councils do not send out application forms until they have been notified by the Minister's Department of payment of the grant. People fell between two stools and they are the people about whom this question is raised.
If the Deputy puts down a separate question I will be able to give him an accurate answer. To the best of my ability and knowledge the answer is within a few weeks.
That is not so.
The Deputy in his question did not state the year but the Minister in his reply gave two different years, 1979 and 1980. Which year is the correct one?
31 December 1980.
I appreciate the Minister's difficulty in this matter because he has explained he is operating to the best of his ability. Can he not appreciate that the applicants concerned qualify in every way except that they did not see the notice in the newspapers? Does the Minister not appreciate that on many occasions notices in newspapers are not seen by the general public but that should not debar them from payment to which they are otherwise entitled. Will the Minister agree to amend the regulations to allow to those applicants the payment to which they are entitled in every respect other than the fact that they did not see the notice in the national newspapers on a certain day?
I have answered that question. I am not prepared to do what the Deputy has suggested. Very few applications have been brought to my notice in connection with this matter. I am not going to do what the Deputy has said.
It is not a question of the quantity of applications. I am talking about the principle.
I am calling Question No. 16.
They were the grants the National Coalition Government brought in.
Is that the reason the Minister will not pay them?
The National Coalition brought in a means test in respect of the grants.
This shows a disrespect for the general public.
I have called Question No. 16.