Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 March 2026
178. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the allocation per local authority for the Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability for each year from 2015-2025 and for 2026, in tabular form. [17709/26]
View answer180. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to detail underspend or funds returned to his Department by each local authority under Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability and Disability Adaptation to Housing Stock In each year from 2015-2025 and for 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17712/26]
View answer181. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to detail waiting times in each local authority under Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability and Disability Adaptation to Housing Stock In each year from 2015-2025 and for 2026, in tabular form, where wait time equates to date of application to date of final drawdown for the former, and date of application to date of completion of works for the latter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17713/26]
View answer182. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department permits local authorities to pool allocations received under Housing Adaptation Grant for People with a Disability and Disability Adaptation to Housing Stock in order to provide a level of equity between waiting times for each scheme. [17714/26]
View answerMy Department provides funding under the suite of Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People, to assist those in private houses to make their accommodation more suitable for 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 local authority.
Budget 2026 provides an increase of €30 million for the scheme, with almost €130 million in Exchequer funding available for the Scheme, or over €152 million when accounting for the local authority contribution. This significant increase in funding will support the payment of some 17,000 grant claims delivering the continued year-on-year increases in funding for the grant scheme since 2014.
My Department works closely with the local authorities to monitor spend and to achieve drawdown of available funding. This means that any underspends that arise on the part of any local authority can be redistributed to other authorities which have high levels of grant activity and my Department makes every effort to redistribute such funding throughout the year. Details of the allocations and drawdown for the years 2015 to 2024 are available on my Department's website at the following link:
https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/other-local-authority-housing-scheme-statistics
Details of the final allocations and funding drawdown by local authorities in 2025 is currently being collated and will be available on my Department’s website shortly.
The detailed administration of the scheme including assessment, approval, prioritisation and apportionment is the responsibility of local authorities. My Department does not hold collated dynamic data on waiting times for grant approval or grant amounts awarded. This information may be available directly from the local authorities.
My Department also provides funding to local authorities under the Disabled Persons Grants scheme to carry out works on social housing stock to address the needs of older people, people with a disability or overcrowded situations. The detailed administration of the programme is a matter for each individual local authority including prioritisation and implementation of the required measures. Therefore, details in relation to individual applications are not collated by my Department and may be available from the respective local authority upon request. Details identifying allocation versus drawdown is available at the link below.
Details of the allocations and drawdown for the years 2015 to 2024 are available on my Department's website at the following link:
https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/publications/disabled-persons-grant-and-improved-works-in-lieu-schemes-allocation-and-drawdown/?referrer=http://www.gov.ie/en/publication/c472d-disabled-persons-grant-and-improved-works-in-lieu-schemes-allocation-and-drawdown-2011-2020/
Data in relation to 2025 will be published shortly.
The Housing Adaptation Grant for Older People and Disabled People Scheme to assist those in private houses and the Disabled Persons Grants scheme for local authority social housing are separate schemes which therefore operate independently of each other including in respect of funding drawdown.
