Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 May 2013

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Questions (201)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

201. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the shortfall in funding for disability adaptations for housing in Dublin City Council which is causing hardship for those with disabilities who are stuck in housing which is not suitable for their needs; is restricting their ability to function further or in the case of an increasing number of patients in hospitals is preventing them from being discharged from acute or rehabilitation hospitals or public funded nursing home beds due to their homes being not suitable; and the steps he will he take to address the shortfall as a matter of urgency. [23471/13]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government

On 22 February 2013, 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. This year I allocated local authorities the full amount of their contractual commitments which, in the case of Dublin City Council, amounted to €2,906,500. 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. This brought Dublin City Council’s overall allocation to € 4,932,320.

A small capital reserve was set aside to deal with any acute or particular difficulty which might arise in the operation of the schemes over the course of the year. Dublin City Council applied for additional funding from this reserve and was notified of a supplementary allocation of €118,063 on 22 April 2013, bringing the Council’s overall allocation for 2013 to €5,050,383.

In the case of extensions and adaptations to the local authority social housing stock, my Department allocates capital funding each year to wards the cost of necessary works to meet the needs of persons with a disability . In 2012, my Department recouped €6 .8 million to all local authorities for this purpose, of which some €1.6 million related to expenditure by Dublin City Council.