asked the Minister for the Environment when a house improvement grant will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Dublin.
Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
57.
This grant will be paid shortly.
58.
asked the Minister for the Environment the up-to-date position concerning the application for a house improvement grant of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin.
The application in this case was in respect of the provision of bathroom and sewerage facilities. A sewerage grant of £200 was paid on 14 February 1983. A bathroom grant cannot be allowed as, contrary to a statutory condition of the scheme, the work had commenced before an inspection of the house was carried out.
59.
asked the Minister for the Environment if he will consider dropping the ten year rule in relation to approvals for house improvement grants in cases where grants for other works on the same houses were paid under the old scheme within the last ten years; if he agrees that this regulation is anomalous in comparison to grants paid under the existing house improvement scheme, especially for applicants such as in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Wexford.
In conjunction with the introduction of the revised scheme of house improvement grants, a number of relaxations of the waiting period requirements has been made including the general reduction from ten years to seven years in the waiting period from the date of payment of a previous house improvement grant to the commencement of work under the new scheme.
The application to which the Deputy's question relates was refused because of payment of a house improvement grant under the pre-1981 scheme. The actual payment in the case in question was made on 15 October 1981 and the seven years waiting period now introduced commences from that date.