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Housing Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026

Wednesday, 6 May 2026

Questions (487)

Paula Butterly

Question:

487. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount allocated to each local authority in 2024 and 2025 under the housing adaptation grant for older people and people with a disability (HAG), the mobility aids grant (MAG), and the housing aid for older people (HOP) schemes; the amount drawn down by each local authority in those years; the level of underspend, recorded by each local authority; and if unutilised funding from local authorities that do not draw down their full allocation can be reallocated to local authorities that have exhausted their allocation or demonstrated additional demand, in order to reduce waiting lists and ensure full use of the national budget for these schemes. [31871/26]

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Written answers

My 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. The detailed administration of the scheme including assessment, approval, prioritisation and apportionment is the responsibility of local authorities.

The Exchequer funding available for these grants in 2026 increased substantially by €30 million to €129.5 million, or over €152 million when accounting for the local authority contribution, continuing the year on year increases since 2014.

My Department works closely with the local authorities to monitor spend and to achieve a full 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. My Department is actively engaging with local authorities to facilitate redistribution of any such savings as early as possible this year.

Details of the allocations and drawdown for 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/

The funding drawdown relative to allocations for 2025 by local authorities will be available on my Department’s website shortly.

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