Vol. 456 No. 1
44 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for the Environment if he has satisfied himself with the length of time taken to process applications for disabled persons reconstruction grants; and the plans, if any, he has to expedite such processing for people with severe disability. [13319/95]
The disabled persons grant scheme is administered by local authorities and, consequently, information on the processing of individual applications by local authorities is not available in my Department. However, a survey of the operation of the scheme, carried out by my Department in 1994, found that local authorities generally were providing a reasonably satisfactory service in terms of processing applications, the level of grant aid, and discharging payment claims. Issues arising from the survey, including delays in processing applications in some areas, were taken up with the individual authorities concerned. I now intend to seek additional information from local authorities in regard to their activity under the scheme in the current year.
