Vol. 492 No. 3
64 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason the essential repairs grant is not available in urban areas; the plans, if any, he has to expand the scheme to these areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13911/98]
Prior to the making of the Housing (Disabled Persons and Essential Repairs Grants) Regulations, 1993, essential repairs grants were confined to houses located within a county health district. The 1993 regulations redefined the circumstances under which essential repairs grants are payable. Effectively, such grants may be paid in respect of a house in any area subject to the following conditions: the occupier must be approved for local authority housing; the house cannot be made fit for human habitation, in all respects, at a reasonable cost but the repairs proposed will prolong the useful life of the house; and, there would be no continuing demand for local authority housing at the location of the house in respect of which the grant is sought.
Generally speaking, I would expect that only a small number of cases in built-up areas could comply with these conditions. However, where an essential repairs grant cannot be paid for a house, because there is a continuing demand for local authority housing, it would be open to the local authority concerned to consider the use of the scheme of improvement works in lieu of local authority housing, if the requirements of that scheme are fulfilled.
