Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 28 Feb 1990

Vol. 396 No. 4

Written Answers. - Sheltered Housing Facilities.

Monica Barnes

Ceist:

30 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for the Environment if he has consulted with the Minister for Health concerning the implementation of the recommendations relevant to his Department in the Council for the Elderly's Report on Sheltered Housing in Ireland; and the specific action he proposes to take in order to assist the provision of adequate on-site communal facilities in line with his Department's technical recommendations for sheltered housing schemes and to assist approved bodies under the Housing Acts with the additional management costs, including staff costs, of special needs housing catering for low-income elderly persons and other categories of persons for whom this type of housing is necessary.

Minister for the Environment (Mr. Flynn)

I presume the Deputy is referring to the report of the National Council for the Aged published in June 1989. The council are an advisory body to the Minister for Health and consideration of any recommendations in the report would, therefore, be primarily a matter for his Department in the first instance.

However, in so far as projects being carried out by approved bodies under my Department's voluntary housing scheme are concerned, the cost of the provision of accommodation within such projects for communal use is reckoned as part of the overall cost of the project on the basis of which the grant is determined subject to the maximum of £20,000 for each unit of accommodation provided in the complex. Other assistance for such projects in the form of health and welfare support services is a matter for the Minister for Health. The cost of the ongoing management of a complex is the responsibility of the approved body concerned.