Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 Feb 1995

Vol. 448 No. 6

Written Answers. - Grant Payments.

Séamus Hughes

Question:

109 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for the Environment the amount made available by his Department to local authorities for each year since 1988 for disabled person's grants and essential repair grants; whether the criteria are set nationally; whether local authorities determine some or all of the criteria on an individual local authority basis; the number of houses improved in each county under these grants; and the proposals, if any, he has to improve the level of funding or criteria for selection in respect of these grants for the future. [2531/95]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment (Ms McManus)

Disabled persons and essential repair grants are administered by local authorities in accordance with the Housing (Disabled Persons and Essential Repairs Grants) Regulations, 1993 and guidelines issued by my Department. The regulations and the guidelines give certain discretion to the local authorities in relation to the nature of works to be grant aided, the determination as to whether an application meets the eligibility criteria, the amount of assistance to be provided (subject to the limits specified in the regulations), the relative priority of applications, etc.

The provision of funds for the scheme is a matter in the first instance for the local authorities who have the option of obtaining long term loan finance from the Housing Finance Agency for that part of their expenditure not recouped by the Department. The maximum amounts recoupable were increased in the case of works commenced on or after 1 March 1993 from £2,500 to £4,000 for disabled persons grants, and from £600 to £900 for essential repair grants. There are no proposals to further increase these amounts or to change the regulations or guidelines.

Detailed information is not available in the Department on the number of houses improved each year under the schemes. However, the amounts recouped nationally each year from 1988 to 1994 and the number of houses in each local authority area to which these recoupments related are set out in the following tables:

Table A

Amount Recouped to Local Authorities

	Disabled Persons Grants	Essential Repairs Grants
	£	£
1988	1,776,101	139,876
1989	2,149,498	237,906
1990	245,217	244,224
1991	2,302,619	289,040
1992	2,309,504	286,264
1993	2,384,467	313,232
1994	2,634,255	365,156

TABLE B

Number of Houses for which recoupment was made Disabled Persons

	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Carlow	61	42	47	34	40	24	8
Cavan	28	30	20	32	26	30	15
Clare	30	18	33	21	19	25	26
Cork	74	67	118	55	133	135	80
Donegal	113	102	105	78	54	27	43
Dublin	86	72	113	82	114	144	165
Galway	25	40	35	41	36	59	42
Kerry	29	65	30	50	47	37	33
Kildare	26	13	58	15	35	16	54
Kilkenny	34	21	67	41	29	41	45
Laois	9	10	19	25	13	28	24
Leitrim	2	3	18	37	40	30	45
Limerick	52	77	67	82	56	53	31
Longford	22	12	19	45	29	27	55
Louth	30	24	28	44	11	20	21
Mayo	102	63	51	106	131	100	96
Meath	61	40	82	49	50	45	32
Monaghan	14	12	23	29	33	18	10
Offaly	32	40	41	23	27	30	41
Roscommon	36	31	53	55	51	62	40
Sligo	41	52	60	75	77	100	68
Tipperary NR	8	10	8	7	20	21	12
Tipperary SR	10	17	16	23	28	22	19
Waterford	8	25	39	24	29	21	17
Westmeath	27	19	—	25	29	19	26
Wexford	25	22	12	35	21	43	22
Wicklow	15	35	4	84	45	50	32
Cork CB	37	8	98	41	74	43	26
Dublin CB	230	404	250	212	223	239	377
Galway CB	6	8	3	19	3	27	6
Limerick CB	7	28	25	34	13	17	7
Waterford CB	10	5	3	10	—	9	12

Number of Houses for which Recoupment was made Essential Repairs

	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994
Carlow	16	11	3	11	3	8	—
Cavan	4	7	—	—	1	3	2
Clare	—	21	—	17	26	29	19
Cork	1	28	19	23	31	27	42
Donegal	118	140	51	50	25	15	23
Dublin	—	3	4	4	5	14	8
Galway	31	18	21	16	14	39	30
Kerry	31	72	63	78	44	19	34
Kildare	4	—	2	2	—	4	8
Kilkenny	—	8	16	21	7	35	21
Laois	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Leitrim	7	10	19	17	38	42	43
Limerick	23	55	32	46	103	40	26
Longford	15	6	2	14	13	17	18
Louth	—	1	1	—	—	—	—
Mayo	—	1	170	68	73	74	159
Meath	—	4	13	13	9	9	32
Monaghan	—	—	—	3	1	1	1
Offaly	—	—	1	—	—	—	—
Roscommon	—	82	60	85	71	62	48
Sligo	7	22	40	73	80	145	70
Tipperary NR	2	3	4	—	3	—	15
Tipperary SR	—	—	—	2	—	—	—
Waterford	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Westmeath	4	7	1	8	5	4	2
Wexford	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Wicklow	—	—	—	—	—	1	—