Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 June 2025
93. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a grant exists to provide deaf people with smoke and carbon dioxide alarms designed specifically for hearing impaired people. [33116/25]
View answerMy Department provides Exchequer funding to local authorities to administer the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People, which support older and disabled people living in private houses to adapt their home to meet their needs. The suite of grants, which include the Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People, the Mobility Aids Grant and the Housing Aid for Older People Grant, are funded by my Department with a contribution from the resources of the local authority.
The Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People is available for the carrying out of works of adaptation that, in the opinion of the local authority, are reasonably necessary for the purposes of rendering a house more suitable for a member of the household who has an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual disability. In general, these grant schemes can be used for works such as level access showers, accessible bathrooms, access ramps, stair lifts, fixed track hoists or extensions. Grant aid may also be considered for assistive technologies which are infrastructural related, such as integrated smoke and carbon dioxide alarms suitable for a member of the household who has an enduring hearing impairment. The detailed administration of the schemes is the responsibility of the local authorities, therefore the qualifying works is a matter for consideration and decision on a case-by-case basis by the local authority within the scope of the grant scheme.
Further details on these schemes is available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/services/housing-adaptation-grants-for-older-people-and-disabled-people-private-houses/.
