Vol. 577 No. 4
289 Mr. Fleming asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the total allocation to Laois County Council for 2003 for disabled persons grants and essential repairs grants; the amount actually drawn down by Laois County Council; the amount not drawn down; and the use to which the amount not drawn down was put. [31622/03]
Local authorities were notified of a combined allocation for expenditure on disabled persons and essential repairs grants in June 2003. They were requested to contact my Department if their allocation was either inadequate or surplus to their requirements to facilitate the possible redistribution of the allocation and to obtain optimum effectiveness from the funding available.
The initial allocation to Laois County Council for expenditure on disabled persons and essential repairs grants in 2003 was €1.176 million. In recent discussions the council indicated that €500,000 of this allocation was surplus to their requirements leaving them with an allocation outturn in the region of €676,000 this year. The surplus has been reallocated to local authorities whose initial allocations were inadequate to meet their expenditure requirements.
