I propose to take Questions Nos. 193, 231 and 607 together.
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 is aware that some local authorities have paused the acceptance of priority 2 and priority 3 applications but are continuing to consider priority 1 applications. Priority 1 is defined as individuals who are terminally ill, primarily dependent on family or a carer, or where adaptations to the home would support applicants leaving hospital or residential care.
Louth County Council has received an allocation of over €3.5 million in Exchequer funding for 2026 an increase of 30% on the original allocation in 2025. During 2025, my Department considered and approved additional funding allocation of €150,000 from Louth County Council bringing the total Exchequer allocation for 2025 to over €2.8 million.
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:
www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/other-local-authority-housing-scheme-statistics/
Details on the original Exchequer allocations for 2025 are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/press-releases/13000-older-and-disabled-people-to-benefit-from-over-117-million-housing-adaptation-grant-funding/. The final drawdown per local authority for 2025 will be published shortly on my Department's website.
Details on the allocations for 2026 are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/press-releases/increased-funding-of-almost-130m-announced-to-improve-homes-for-older-people-and-disabled-people/.
