Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Oct 1995

Vol. 456 No. 3

Written Answers. - Grant Payments.

Séamus Hughes

Ceist:

83 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for the Environment the number of essential repair and disabled person grants approved by local authorities on a county basis for each of the years 1993 and 1994 and to date in 1995; the total value in each case; the amounts paid to date to local authorities by way of recoupment; the number of cases in which recoupment was refused or disallowed; and the reasons for these refusals. [13902/95]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment (Ms McManus)

The disabled persons and essential repair grant schemes are administered by the local authorities and information is not available in my Department on the number of grants approved or their value.

My Department's involvement relates primarily to the recoupment of a proportion of local authority expenditure in the payment of individual grants. The amounts recouped in 1993, 1994 and up to 31 August 1995 to each local authority are set out in the following tables. The Department's statistics relating to the schemes do not include specific information on cases where recoupments were disallowed but there have been relatively few such cases.

Recoupments to the Local Authorities under the Essential Repairs Grant Scheme

County Council	1993	1994	January-August 1995
	Number	Value	Number	Value	Number	Value
		£		£		£
Carlow	8	6,550	—	—	9	6,890
Cavan	3	1,800	2	1,200	1	600
Clare	29	12,645	19	9,131	49	29,315
Cork	27	14,804	42	29,983	22	14,175
Donegal	15	10,175	23	17,348	15	13,500
Dublin Fingal	—	—	2	780	2	1,800
Dublin South	14	8,250	6	3,606	9	7,237
Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown	—	—	—	—	—	—
Galway	39	23,600	30	25,762	34	29,954
Kerry	19	10,600	34	23,547	20	14,365
Kildare	4	2,050	8	4,874	17	9,096
Kilkenny	35	14,361	21	9,047	17	8,723
Laois	—	—	—	—	—	—
Leitrim	42	21,640	43	23,968	73	46,687
Limerick	40	19,699	26	18,274	44	31,804
Longford	17	9,575	18	13,550	—	—
Louth	—	—	—	—	—	—
Mayo	74	34,631	159	70,343	51	36,910
Meath	9	5,850	32	22,351	21	17,813
Monaghan	1	200	1	418	—	—
Offaly	—	—	—	—	1	125
Roscommon	62	39,145	48	36,775	24	16,769
Sligo	145	74,522	70	41,812	34	21,950
Tipperary NR	—	—	15	11,287	—	—
Tipperary SR	—	—	—	—	—	—
Waterford	—	—	—	—	—	—
Westmeath	4	2,235	2	1,100	—	—
Wexford	—	—	—	—	—	—
Wicklow	1	900	—	—	—	—
Total	588	313,232	601	365,156	443	307,713

Recoupments to the Local Authorities under the Disabled Person's Grant Scheme

County Council	1993	1994	January-August 1995
	Number	Value	Number	Value	Number	Value
		£		£		£
Carlow	24	29,835	8	11,122	18	29,310
Cavan	30	51,014	15	29,885	32	65,572
Clare	25	31,935	26	33,070	26	53,787
Cork	135	223,021	80	144,038	63	135,542
Donegal	27	41,954	43	88,103	31	57,702
Dublin Fingal	—	—	76	137,115	15	30,233
Dublin South	144	239,836	40	73,791	38	92,558
Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown	—	—	49	90,779	20	39,837
Galway	59	93,598	42	77,357	34	55,697
Kerry	37	55,328	33	37,127	25	44,230
Kildare	16	33,700	54	86,620	16	31,870
Kilkenny	41	65,065	45	91,099	17	40,208
Laois	28	50,600	24	50,788	17	30,638
Leitrim	30	42,270	45	62,486	27	41,635
Limerick	53	94,829	31	58,835	10	17,819
Longford	27	39,979	55	70,862	—	—
Louth	20	39,033	21	38,490	10	13,931
Mayo	100	101,213	96	96,512	66	62,947
Meath	45	79,643	42	74,719	33	73,402
Monaghan	18	27,581	10	14,282	17	29,720
Offaly	30	45,184	31	54,951	20	33,594
Roscommon	62	95,114	40	55,696	24	34,912
Sligo	100	141,877	68	98,472	65	103,533
Tipperary NR	21	37,107	12	26,901	5	13,865
Tipperary SR	22	33,320	19	30,828	17	27,706
Waterford	21	34,288	17	25,773	11	17,790
Westmeath	19	27,650	26	45,355	16	24,537
Wexford	43	49,972	22	34,852	28	32,312
Wicklow	50	86,390	32	62,055	19	51,414
Cork CB	43	74,766	26	42,917	30	59,810
Dublin CB	239	426,487	377	736,726	175	330,294
Galway CB	27	45,201	6	14,611	6	4,603
Limerick CB	17	28,553	7	16,486	12	29,356
Waterford CB	9	18,124	12	21,552	2	3,070
Total	1,562	2,484,467	1,530	2,634,255	945	1,713,434

Séamus Hughes

Ceist:

84 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for the Environment the definition of isolated rural area for the purposes of the essential and disabled persons housing grant schemes; and whether small rural villages of several hundred people fall within the definition. [13903/95]

Séamus Hughes

Ceist:

85 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for the Environment whether an essential repairs grant can be paid to a houseowner over 55 years of age who lives with younger dependants provided that all other conditions of the scheme are met. [13904/95]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment (Ms McManus)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 84 and 85 together. The disabled persons and essential repairs grants schemes are administered by local authorities in accordance with the Housing (Disabled Persons and Essential Repairs Grants) Regulations, 1993 and, subject to these regulations, it is a matter for each authority to determine whether a grant can be paid in an individual case.

Essential repairs grants are payable for houses which cannot be made fit for human habitation in all respects at a reasonable cost in circumstances where, with the carrying out of the essential repairs, the house can continue to meet short term accommodation needs. Accordingly, the regulations restrict the payment of essential repairs grants to houses where there would be no continuing need for housing provided by the local authority in the vicinity of the house to be improved. There is no similar restriction in relation to disabled persons grants.

Subject to compliance with the requirements of the regulations, authorities may pay essential repairs grants in respect of houses in rural villages. The payment of essential repairs grants in respect of houses to meet family-type needs would generally be precluded by the regulations by virtue of the fact that a continuing need for housing would exist. However, it would be open to an authority to consider the use of the scheme of improvement works in lieu of local authority housing in such circumstances.