My Department’s involvement with the Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a Disability relates primarily to the recoupment of a proportion of local authority expenditure on the payment of individual grants. These schemes, introduced in November 2007, are funded by 80% recoupments available from my Department together with a 20% contribution from the resources of the local authority.
On 22 February I announced capital allocations to local authorities under the suite of Grants for Older People and People with a Disability amounting to €42.750 million. In allocating the available funding across all 34 city and county councils I did so in as transparent and as fair a way as possible. In framing the 2013 allocations, my Department wrote to each local authority requesting details of the numbers and value of grants where work had been approved to commence. Between them, local authorities reported contractual commitments in respect of approved grants totalling €18 million. This year I allocated local authorities the full amount of their contractual commitments. The balance of the available funding was allocated on the basis of each authority’s share of the new applications on hand in January 2013.
In order to deal with any acute or particular difficulty which might arise in the operation of the schemes over the course of the year I have set aside a small capital reserve. I recently approved supplementary funding of €1.2 million to 13 local authorities from this reserve. I will consider requests for further supplementary allocations later in the year. Based on information submitted by local authorities to my Department in January 2013, details of the numbers of applications received but still awaiting approval at that time, broken down by scheme, are set out in the following table:
Local Authority
|
Housing Adaptation Grants
|
Housing Aid for Older People
|
Mobility Aids Grants
|
Total
|
Carlow County Council
|
47
|
137
|
42
|
226
|
Cavan County Council
|
36
|
93
|
31
|
160
|
Clare County Council
|
122
|
461
|
150
|
733
|
Cork County Council
|
64
|
673
|
137
|
874
|
Donegal County Council
|
112
|
26
|
36
|
174
|
Dun Laogh/ Rath Co Council
|
67
|
2
|
0
|
69
|
Fingal County Council
|
112
|
160
|
13
|
285
|
Galway County Council
|
13
|
186
|
16
|
215
|
Kerry County Council
|
84
|
126
|
99
|
309
|
Kildare County Council
|
74
|
284
|
13
|
371
|
Kilkenny County Council
|
111
|
169
|
86
|
366
|
Laois County Council
|
12
|
78
|
13
|
103
|
Leitrim County Council
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
Limerick County Council
|
46
|
280
|
36
|
362
|
Longford County Council
|
6
|
30
|
10
|
46
|
Louth County Council
|
130
|
150
|
10
|
290
|
Mayo County Council
|
25
|
209
|
89
|
323
|
Meath County Council
|
39
|
1
|
1
|
41
|
Monaghan County Council
|
50
|
75
|
55
|
180
|
North Tipp County Council
|
17
|
142
|
4
|
163
|
Offaly County Council
|
117
|
159
|
11
|
287
|
Roscommon County Council
|
75
|
131
|
4
|
210
|
Sligo County Council
|
8
|
5
|
3
|
16
|
South Dublin County Council
|
72
|
10
|
20
|
102
|
South Tipp County Council
|
104
|
148
|
38
|
290
|
Waterford County Council
|
18
|
81
|
25
|
124
|
Westmeath County Council
|
54
|
73
|
18
|
145
|
Wexford County Council
|
29
|
505
|
103
|
637
|
Wicklow County Council
|
20
|
68
|
50
|
138
|
Cork City Council
|
142
|
197
|
19
|
358
|
Dublin City Council
|
454
|
47
|
28
|
529
|
Galway City Council
|
15
|
32
|
6
|
53
|
Limerick City Council
|
94
|
266
|
95
|
455
|
Waterford City Council
|
15
|
11
|
30
|
56
|
TOTALS
|
2385
|
5016
|
1291
|
8692
|