Vol. 1038 No. 5
74. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of affordable homes he intends to deliver in 2023 and 2024 via the affordable housing fund, the cost rental equity loan, Project Tosaigh and Land Development Agency, LDA, direct delivery. [23808/23]
Could the Minister set out for the House the number of affordable homes that he is hoping to deliver, this year and next year, specifically under the affordable housing fund, the cost rental equity loan, Project Tosaigh and LDA delivery?
I thank the Deputy for his question. Housing for All sets out the range of actions necessary to increase housing supply to the required average of 33,000 homes per annum over the next decade. This includes 54,000 affordable home interventions. They will be delivered between now and 2030. They will be facilitated through local authorities, approved housing bodies, AHBs, the Land Development Agency and strategic partnerships between the State and retail banks. In Housing for All, we targeted affordable purchase and cost rental output of 5,500 and 6,400 for 2023 and 2024, respectively, to be delivered across the various delivery streams, including the first home scheme.
As the Deputy will be aware, 2022 saw the first delivery of affordable housing in a decade by local authorities and the first ever affordable housing delivery by the LDA. I anticipate that the momentum generated by this initial and welcome delivery will be ramped up over 2023 and 2024. A pipeline of housing delivery is now in place across our delivery partners and under ongoing development by local authorities, AHBs and the LDA.
At local level, each local authority has prepared and published a housing delivery action plan in respect of local authority supported or overseen delivery and foreseen output from other delivery streams. They set out projected delivery on an annual basis from 2022 to 2026. All that information is available to all Deputies in the House.
We have a strong pipeline, particularly through the affordable housing fund. We now have 52 projects approved across 15 local authorities with 3,164 homes within that. We are receiving applications every week. Just this week, in Mariners Way, Rush, which is in my own area, we have advertised a further 55 cost-rental homes, which are going out for tenanting right now with rents starting at €910 per month.
Although all very interesting, it does not answer the simple question that I asked.
Here is the problem. Over the last number of years, under the previous Government's plan and the Minister's plan, we know the target for social housing delivery each year. In fact, not only do we know the target for social housing delivery, but it is broken down by local authority and by delivery stream - acquisition, new build and long-term leasing.
Since Deputy Darragh O'Brien became Minister, not only Opposition but his own Government backbenchers in the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage have been asking him can he not just do the same thing for affordable housing. Is it not possible for the Minister to set out for each of the remaining years of Government the number of affordable homes he will deliver over those four key schemes, namely, the affordable housing fund, the cost rental equity loan, Project Tosaigh and the LDA's own delivery?
The difficulty is the Minister's plan has a macro-target - the 4,000 for this year and the 5,000 for next year - in terms of affordable homes, but that also includes homes that are not affordable, funded through the first home shared-equity loan about which we can have a separate debate. All I am asking the Minister to do is something very simple. This year, how many affordable purchase homes is the Minister targeting for delivery under the affordable housing fund? How many cost-rental homes is the Minister targeting to deliver under the cost rental equity loan, and the same for Project Tosaigh and the LDA?
It is interesting the Deputy likes to dismiss the first home scheme, which, by the way, has had an excellent start. We have issued more eligibility certificates and approved more people to buy their homes in the first three months of this year than we did in the last six months of last year. It is a real way that people, many of whom are renting, bridge the gap between the finance that they have and what they need. It is working well. I am conscious Deputy Ó Broin would scrap that as well, as he would scrap the help-to-buy grant-----
Absolutely.
-----which is people's own tax back. Thirty-seven thousand households have used that to attain it.
In relation to delivery streams, I have been clear on this. Our overall target for this year is 5,550. In relation to affordable housing, we have a number of streams, including Project Tosaigh and Croí Cónaithe cities, on which, by the way, I intend to make announcements next month. There is no difficulty in providing the Deputy with the detail of the different streams. On the local authority affordable purchase, for example, we are targeting 1,200 homes in that space this year.
This year?
Yes, this year. There are challenges within that, as with the overall target. In social housing last year, we were able to deliver 10,253 new social homes - the highest amount since 1975.
The Minister has answer a quarter of the question I asked. Maybe, in his final response, I will get the other three quarters.
The question is simple and I am not trying to catch the Minister out. The Minister has told us - this is the first time I have this information - that he is hoping to get 1,200 affordable purchase units from the affordable housing fund. How many is the Minister targeting this year through the cost rental equity loan with the AHBs, how many does the Minister expect, in his conversations with the LDA, will be delivered through Project Tosaigh this year, will any LDA properties be delivered through its own build programme this year, and since the question asked for next year as well, can the Minister give us the targets for next year? It is a simple question.
It is a simple question and as the Deputy might understand as well, delivery can be complex. However, we have a number of delivery streams.
The LDA will deliver through Project Tosaigh this year as well.
How many?
It has already delivered its first cost rental also. The LDA, by the way, which the Deputy opposed, is a development agency to deliver homes on State-owned land.
Does the Minister have a target for this year? It is a fair question.
Right the way across our delivery through the local authority affordable purchase, and the local authority, LA, cost rental, in which we are targeting 200 this year. We broke ground in Tallaght recently on a significant scheme with South Dublin County Council of 134 cost rental through the local authority.
Are those 200 included in the 1,200?
Sorry, Deputy.
It is a genuine question. I am not interrupting the Minister.
The Deputy asked his question and I am answering it.
Are the 200 local authority cost rental included in the 1,200?
It is impossible to answer with continuous interruption.
Let the Minister conclude.
What I will do is supply the Deputy with the details that I have. The Deputy should then highlight the schemes that he does not support-----
Given that I asked the Minister the question today, surely the Minister can give me the answer today.
-----such as the first home scheme, the Land Development Agency and cost rental, on which we are making changes.
The Minister does not have the answer today.
I do have the answer.
The Minister just will not give it to us.
Táimid thar am. Tá mé ag bogadh ar aghaidh.
75. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has plans to ensure that residents who are selected from the social housing list to join a new-build co-operative home ownership scheme are not charged development levies due to the dwellings being classed as "private"; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23915/23]
I want to ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has plans to ensure that residents who are selected from the social housing list to join a new-build co-operative home ownership scheme are not charged development levies due to the dwellings being classed as "private", and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I thank Deputy Bacik for the question. Section 48(2)(b) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that the level of contribution, and the types of development to which development contributions should apply, including any exemptions from charging in specific circumstances if that is deemed appropriate, are determined at local authority level.
Local authorities' development contribution schemes may include a provision to waive or reduce contributions for homes provided by a co-operative housing body. For example, Dublin City Council's scheme notes that such units will not be required to pay development contributions. In certain other local authorities, waivers or reduced development contributions are also applied in respect of such housing.
That said, the Government is mindful of the need to further incentivise increased housing supply while addressing cost and viability issues faced by those delivering new homes. With that in mind, on 25 April the Government approved the introduction of a temporary time-limited arrangement for the waiving of local authority section 48 development contributions, and the refunding of Uisce Eireann-Irish Water waste and wastewater connection charges. All residential developments, including developments by a co-operative housing body, will be exempt from development contributions and water connection fees for a 12-month period until 24 April 2024. The homes must be completed by 31 December 2025. My Department is working on the detailed arrangements for the operation and administration of this measure.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. This issue was raised with me by one of our most experienced councillors in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Denis O’Callaghan. He tells me a co-operative housing scheme of 42 units is under construction in the area by Co-operative Housing Ireland, of which 34 will be rental and eight built as co-operative home owned. Eight families opted into the scheme who were selected from the social housing lists on the council. The local authority insists these eight dwellings are subject to development levies because they are classed as private dwellings, even though they are on the same site as the other units being built. The developer liable for the levies will pay the council and then charge the eight families.
Which council is this?
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The levies work out at approximately €13,500 per house. They are placing a huge burden on the eight families. The councillor has asked the planners to waive the levy but they will not. I am concerned about whether policies adopted by Government are being passed consistently onto councils. We see, unfortunately, serious inconsistencies in the application of the tenant in situ scheme across councils. It appears from the Minister of State’s answer that not all councils may be applying the same waiver approach in this sort of scenario.
The tenant in situ scheme is hugely successful. Going back to the Deputy's case, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council provides an exemption for social housing units provided by a co-operative body. The Deputy’s councillor colleague is correct. The measure relating to development contributions and refunds is an activation measure and is about getting sites under construction now. The Deputy is referring, I assume, to a development that is completed. The individual development contribution scheme is the sole prerogative of the local authority, more particularly the elected members. It is a reserved function of the elected members. We can follow up the Deputy’s query with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown but ultimately the decision on the development contribution scheme is a reserved function of the local authority and its members.
The answer the Minister of State has given exemplifies the difficulties with the Government's approach to planning. There is a serious element of passing the buck between central government and local authorities. We have seen it in the tenant in situ scheme, in Government proposals around the first refusal scheme and in the lack of planning and co-ordination between central government and local authorities following the lifting of the temporary no-fault eviction ban.
We in the Opposition have put forward clear proposals to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Department to ensure there would be a package of co-ordinated measures that local authorities could adopt consistently across the country to support families and households facing eviction or on the homelessness list.
Last week we heard from Focus Ireland about the enormous difficulties for children in homelessness; we heard from Alone and Threshold about the enormous issues facing older people. There are 175 people aged over 65 among the 12,000 in emergency accommodation. We know from individual cases we are all dealing with, like Micheline Walsh, how difficult it is to access alternative accommodation. I appeal to the Minister of State to ensure a more co-ordinated approach across local authorities.
Many local authorities, including Limerick City and County Council, Sligo County Council, the already-mentioned Dublin City Council, Galway City Council and South Dublin County Council, effectively provide exemptions from development contributions for all forms of social and affordable housing. The Deputy’s colleague is obviously a member of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. It is the councillors who make this decision. The Government brought out an activation measure to get housing projects under way. We want to see a co-ordinated approach. The Deputy will appreciate there is a separation of powers between local authority members and the Government. It is something councillors look for. They have that in terms of development contribution levies. I suggest the Deputy talk to her councillor colleague about looking at it in his local authority.
76. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the redress scheme for defective buildings, including when emergency funding for interim measures will be available; and the timeline for the legislation underpinning the scheme. [23809/23]
It is ten months since the publication of the report of the working group on defective buildings. Will the Minister give the House an update on the progress of the establishment of the redress scheme for those homeowners? More particularly, will he give us information on what is happening with emergency funding for mitigation measures, the timeline for the publication of the legislation and when he expects the scheme to be open? Can he give us any update on his engagement with the insurance industry on that aspect of this issue?
I thank the Deputy for this important question and colleagues for their input into this. Since receipt of Government approval in January to draft legislation to establish supports for remediation defects in apartments, I have been working to progress the various programmes of work required to put a significant remediation scheme on a statutory footing. A key aspect of this work is developing a code of practice in the context of the Fire Services Act, to which I will come back in more detail later, to provide guidance to relevant professionals, including guidance on interim safety measures, which is important.
The group working on this code includes industry professionals, local authority fire services, the Housing Agency and my Department. Engagement and agreement with local authority fire services are crucial to ensure life safety work is carried out appropriately. I am engaging with a homeowners' implementation group to ensure that they are kept up to date on the progress we are making. I last met them on 10 May.
In order to ensure that important life safety works are not paused, remediation works related to fire safety defects, entered into or commenced from 18 January 2023, will form part of the remediation scheme, subject to terms and conditions. The details of this process are being worked out as a priority in parallel with the code of practice.
In addition, work is under way to draft the required legislation, which will include the scope, eligibility and conditions of the remediation scheme. While I am working on the development of the scheme as a matter of priority, sufficient time is required to draft the legislation to ensure that the scheme, which will be here for a number of years, is fit for purpose, provides value for the taxpayer, has appropriate oversight and governance measures in place and, most importantly, will help thousands of residents get their homes and lives back together. Subject to the legislative process, it is intended that a scheme will be in place in 2024. I will come back on the other aspects in the supplementary.
This is an issue on which we want to work with the Minister.
I know.
All of us in opposition want to do that, but there is enormous frustration, not just on this side of the House but among homeowners living with the reality of defects in apartments, duplexes and houses. Some of those homeowners are now staging a protest outside the Dáil every week, not just from Citywest but from Ennis and elsewhere. While we understand the legislation has to be done right and there has to be technical groundwork, there are people today who want to do remediation work but are nervous about doing it because they do not know whether they will be included in the final details of the scheme for emergency funding for mitigation measures.
I find it hard to believe a scheme will be open at the start of next year because the legislation for defective blocks was passed a year ago and is not open yet. There is a lot of work to do with regulations post the passing of the legislation. Can the Minister give more definitive information on when people will know what is and is not included in the emergency funding for mitigation? Can he give an indication of the publication date for the legislation? Can he give any information on his engagement with the insurance industry?
Colleagues across the House have worked together on this and I want to continue in that vein. I meet residents regularly. I have had a number of webinars with them and met the representative groups as recently as 10 May. The legislation is complex and we need to get it right. It is important residents know where work has been done already. An important decision was made by the Government that retrospection and costs incurred will be covered and, for those entering into works, those works will be covered and will not have to be paused.
I am looking with the Housing Agency at, for want of a better phrase, a hardship fund for some owners management companies, OMCs, that may not have access to any finance to carry out certain safety works.
These are not necessarily full remediations in that sense because we need the scheme to be stood up. That is why the code of practice on the fire services side is really important in order that we can show people the works that are being done on an interim basis. That is being advanced. We have the input of the fire services officers right across the local authorities on that. We are doing that as quickly as we can. I have kept residents abreast of that work too. I want the schemes to be stood up in 2024.
Go raibh maith agat.
I would like it to happen in early 2024. I will come back in again.
My concern is that much of what the Minister has said is similar to what he said the last time I raised this issue at the end of last year. There was actually an expectation and inference from him that some of the funding for mitigation measures, which could include fire wardens or emergency remediation work could be available in early 2023. That has not transpired. Likewise, for example, the Minister originally told us that the enhanced defective blocks scheme would be open at the end of last year and then early this year. We are expecting the regulations to be published by the end of this month. However, there is a concern that it will take a month or two for the local authorities to get that scheme up and running.
I want to press the Minister for more clarity for those people who today need emergency funding for mitigation or interim measures. What are the specific details? When will the specific details be published regarding what that can cover? When will the hardship fund be running? For the third time, if the Minister can give any information about his engagement with industry in terms of rising insurance premiums, I would appreciate that.
I do not know that it is the third time the Deputy has asked about that. I have formally engaged with industry, both Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, BPFI, and Insurance Ireland. I have met them and we are continuing that engagement. Homeowners have been too. The code of practice is very important because it will underpin what interim works can take place and what the standard of those works will be when they take place.
The Deputy has referenced defective concrete blocks. We have given residents additional time because they asked for it. I asked for feedback across the House, as well as from the Deputy, in relation to regulations. I might add for the record of the House that I did not receive it. However, I do intend to publish the regulations on defective concrete blocks at the end of this month because that scheme needs to stand up at the start of June. We will work through that.
We have to get the code of practice piece done and we are expediting that. I want to make funds available for developments that need immediate fire safety works to be done. We will do that in the short term, but I have to get the code of practice done. I cannot reach into that process. That is for both local authority experts and industry experts. I expect to have that soon. I will correspond with Deputies and with the Oireachtas joint committee on it. I know how urgent and important it is.
Go raibh maith agat.
To conclude, it is really important that residents know - and many developments have been fully remediated - that where works have started, those works will be covered. Where they are entering into contracts and where they have funds, they should continue with those works. All those works will be covered.
77. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the level of flexibility that local authorities have when considering a tenant in situ purchase; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23444/23]
When the eviction ban was lifted, the Government promised that a range of measures would be put in place to prevent people from becoming homeless. It is important to acknowledge that good work has been done by local authorities with the tenant in situ scheme. However, many renters are still falling through the cracks and are still being evicted. Dublin City Council have said that they are already close to meeting this year's tenant in situ target of 450 tenancies. What is being done to expand the tenant in situ scheme and to ensure it is operated with greater flexibility to protect people from becoming homeless?
Specifically with regard to the tenant in situ scheme, it has been a real success so far. To update the House, approximately 1,800 properties are going through the sales process right now. The targets that were set across local authorities were baseline targets and I have said that to everyone on numerous occasions.
Additional funding will be required. If we can do more than 2,000 this year, which I believe we can, they will be funded. With regard to transboundary issues in particular, such as where a housing assistance payment, HAP, tenant might have been on one local authority list but is living in another, those issues have been resolved. We are therefore seeing a significant amount of work being done by all our local authorities in this space. The returns on that are very significant. We get them on a monthly basis but they are updated on the system weekly. Then we verify them at the end of the month.
I just spoke about the purchase for tenant in situ scheme and I will inform the Deputy about the other measures. Regarding the cost rental in situ scheme, we have had our first approvals in that space. The Housing Agency are managing those. It relates to when someone is above the social housing limits, who is not a HAP tenant, who cannot afford to buy their property and who is at risk of homelessness. That scheme has been in place since 1 April. We have had a number of inquiries and we have had our first approvals there, which is good. Also with regard to the first home scheme, which helps tenants if they are in a position to buy the property when the landlord is selling, we have had our first approvals in that space too.
I wish to assure Deputy Cian O'Callaghan and all Deputies in the House that there is no ceiling on the purchase for a tenant in situ. We need to have discretion amongst the local authorities to allow them to do their work. However, the returns so far are extremely positive. This now means that for many HAP tenancies that may have been insecure, people now have safe and secure social homes for life. This is the most significant intervention in relation to tenant in situ purchases that has ever been brought forward, and it is working. There were some issues at the start and we will keep that under review. The County and City Management Association, CCMA, will be meeting about this today. I have appointed the former chief executive of Kildare County Council, Peter Carey, who is managing in this space across the local authorities.
I am going to read a short extract from an email that a mother of two children who is facing eviction into homelessness has sent to me. She has given me her full permission to use this. She says:
5 years ago, I fled domestic violence. In the 6-month period that we were homeless the effect on my son's mental health was devastating. At 7 years old he was suicidal and permanently suspended from school. In the past 5 years we have fought hard to save this boy's life. I have no doubt being homeless again will take all that stability, routine and safety away from him and all of our hard work and fight will be gone. He has been diagnosed with autism. He needs space to regulate his emotions. He needs to have a safe space to call home. I am begging you not to make this child homeless.
Dublin City Council has declined to approve this mother and her children for a tenant in situ scheme. Will the Minister ask them to be more flexible and take another look at this?
First, I have every sympathy and empathy for that lady and for the difficulties that people find themselves in. There are two issues here. We need to get the supply of social housing up. Our new-build programme is happening and we will build more this year than we did last year.
Specifically in relation to the case the Deputy has referenced, we have given flexibility to the local authorities. I do not know the details of that case, but I am more than happy to look into it. I have seen local authorities across the country show a great deal of flexibility, particularly in the area where a house may be a three-bedroom house but there may only be two people in it. They may look at the size of a household versus the size of a property. I have been asking the local authorities to buy them anyway. It may require a reallocation into the future to secure that property and those tenancies. I do not know the details of that case, but I can tell the Deputy I am more than happy to look into it and to engage with Dublin City Council on it.
I want to commend Dublin City Council for the work they have been doing. They have been extremely proactive with regard to their purchases for the tenant in situ scheme. They have been performing very well. I will look at the details if Deputy O'Callaghan will share them with me and I will make contact with the Dublin City Council on that case.
I thank the Minister for that answer, which I appreciate. This is another extract from the email that a mother of two children, who is facing homelessness, has sent to me. She wrote:
My daughter has been diagnosed with severe dyslexia and is getting the help she needs in a new school. At 4th class this is her 4th school to attend. [...She needs] the stability and routine of staying in the same school and moving again. My health is suffering, the stress of the homeless crisis has resulted in my blood pressure going so high I have had 4 increases in blood pressure medication. The stress is killing me and I am scared of having a stroke or a heart attack and leaving my kids without a mother.
This is just one family who are being evicted into homelessness. There are thousands of other families around the country who are in similar situations. I appreciate that the Minister is going to look into this one case. However, in terms of all the people who are not being protected by the tenant in situ scheme, what is the Minister going to do to ensure the scheme is expanded in order that local authorities use it more for people who are really at risk of homelessness in situations like this?
The suite of measures is in place, and not just for HAP and RAS tenants. There is the cost-rental purchase scheme for tenants in situ. As I said, we have had our first approvals in that space and that has been managed by the Housing Agency. The other piece of work we have to do is the right of first refusal, about which we will bring forward legislation to the House in advance of the summer. A very significant change will be made there. Fundamentally, across all tenures, we need to increase supply. We did that significantly last year when there were almost 30,000 new builds and 10,253 new social homes.
For that lady who was in contact with the Deputy and who spoke of a child who had to move to four different schools, that speaks to the issue of there not being enough supply up to now to be able to provide secure and safe homes for people. Earlier this week, I was in Laois and Offaly, where we opened more than 200 new homes. There are really significant programmes on the ground there. That is the solution to it. I wish to assure the Deputy and tell tenants who find themselves in that situation to make contact with their local authorities because the local authorities have a full suite of measures. They are not restricted in relation to capital investment or funding.
The targets I set were baseline targets. There is no ceiling on this. Where Deputies receive specific cases, we have set up a contact line and have a secretariat in place under the management of Peter Carey in order that those cases can be brought to us and they will be looked at specifically.
78. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on the review of the maximum grant allowed under the adaptation grants schemes. [23926/23]
Will the Minister provide an update on the review of the maximum grant allowed under the adaptation grant schemes?
I thank Deputy Gould for bringing forward this question. My Department provides Exchequer funding to local authorities to support the suite of housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability which supports older and disabled people living in private houses to adapt their homes to meet their needs. Housing for All commits to reviewing the grants scheme and a report on the review has been prepared by my Department. The review was informed by engagement with external stakeholders including the Department of Health, the HSE, the Disability Federation of Ireland and the Irish Wheelchair Association. Written submissions were also invited and considered as part of this process. Among the areas which the review considered are income thresholds, the grant limits, the application and the decision-making processes, including the supplementary documentation required. I received the review just recently on coming into my delegated powers and I am giving it careful, detailed and timely consideration. I will make a decision on the recommendations in the report as soon as possible. My main focus in respect of these grants is in seeking to spread their benefit by further increasing the funding that is available at national level including wider access to funding at the local level. The total funding available for the suite of housing adaptation grants has increased to more than €83 million for 2023 continuing the year-on-year increase since 2014 for these extremely important grants. This year’s allocation will build on the success of last year where we exceeded the number of home adaptations initially targeted.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. In November of last year the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, gave a commitment that the review would be published at the end of 2022. Where is the review? It is now six months late and we still do not have it. Two days ago the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said he was looking at the review. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, now says he is looking at it. Everyone seems to be looking at it but people are not getting it.
Last year there was a budget of more than €24 million for adaptation grants but €7 million was returned to the Government from local authorities. The reason the local authorities could not spend it is that the grants are not enough. To get an insight into this I spoke to a builder who said that you could not build an extension for €30,000, and that anyone in government who thinks you could is crazy. He said it would be at least double that amount, if not more, depending on the location, the site and so on. Local authorities are giving back money to the Government because they do not have the resources to pay the extra. In other words, older people and people with disabilities do not have the houses they need.
There are obviously two aspects. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is the senior Minister so he obviously received the report as well. Looking at housing adaptation grants falls under my specific remit. The Deputy will have to take my word. I have only recently received the review. I am actively working on it. I am actively meeting officials to see how we can progress it. I take the Deputy’s point in regard to individual local authorities. We want to see these schemes working. Some colleagues have said that some local authorities have reached their limit already. We ask the local authorities to engage with the Department in order that we can see what we can do. I give a commitment that the review itself and the report that has been produced by my officials is under detailed active consideration at the moment. That is a commitment I give to the House.
While we are giving commitments, will the Minister of State give a commitment that once the review is announced, both the funding and the thresholds will be increased for this year? To give an example, Wicklow County Council found that five of the 11 possible adaptation grants under the mobility aid grant are now priced at a standard above the threshold. Cork City Council had to return €500,000 of the €1.5 million it received because, and this is my reading of it, local authorities do not have the extra funding to carry out the work. This grant has not been increased since 2010. We talk about looking after the elderly and trying to keep people living in their homes. A friend of mine whose wife was ill recently and in hospital for more than two months could not be bothered to apply for the grant. He said he wanted to get his wife out of hospital and home as quickly as possible. He and his friends went away and built an extension because they did not trust the Government or local authority and did not want his wife to have to stay in hospital when she should be at home.
We are looking to have the review concluded very quickly. It would then become a budgetary matter in regard to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. We will progress it. We do not want to see that situation such as the Deputy's example happening again.
That is what is happening
I see it on the ground. For me on the ground the housing adaptation grant is a very good scheme. It has not been reviewed since 2014. I take that on board. We now have a report from the officials and we are working with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to go through it forensically. From that we want to bring forward a proposal that we will have to bring to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform in the normal way. We will look to do that as quickly as possible.
