Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 December 2025
224. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures in Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025–2030 that deal with delayed hospital discharges for older people and disabled persons who are medically fit for discharge but unable to leave due to housing shortages; and the delivery timelines attached to these measures. [70418/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra225. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has set annual output targets in Delivering Homes, Building Communities for the provision of housing suitable for older people and disabled persons transitioning from hospitals or nursing homes; and if so, the targets for 2025, 2026, and 2027. [70424/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 224 and 225 together.
Delivering Homes, Building Communities, published 13 November 2025, is Ireland’s new national housing plan. It is a wide-ranging action plan focused on housing supply and targeting homelessness, encompassing two pillars activating supply and supporting people. Within Pillar 2, which details how Government will support people, is a commitment to implement the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People (NHSDP) 2022-2027. The Plan also includes measures which will increase delivery of housing for older people through increased delivery of social housing, increased delivery of more suitable homes in private housing and increased choice to support voluntary rightsizing.
My Department jointly published the NHSDP and Implementation Plan with the Department of Health and the Department of Children, Disability, and Equality. The Strategy and Implementation Plan may be accessed on my Department’s website at the following link: [www.gov.ie/en/publication/60d76-national-housing-strategy-for-disabled-people-2022-2027/] . The Implementation Plan sets out the actions to achieve the vision of the joint Strategy for delivering housing and related supports for disabled people to 2027. It supports the primary objective of the Strategy which is ‘to facilitate disabled people to live independently with the appropriate choices and control over where, how and with whom they live, promoting their inclusion in the community’.
Provision of housing for older people and disabled people is funded under the capital schemes for local authority housing through the Social Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) and the AHBs through the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS) for the provision of independent living accommodation to meet the needs of people requiring specific categories of needs. Additionally, the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) is funding support provided to AHBs by local authorities to facilitate the funding of new social housing units, which may also accommodate older people and disabled people. The planning, design and delivery of social housing is a matter for individual local authorities.
Decisions on the qualification of households for social housing support and the allocation of that support are a matter solely for the local authority concerned, in accordance with their allocation schemes made under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated Regulations. This legislation requires all local authorities, as a reserved function, to make an allocation scheme determining the order of priority to be accorded in the allocation of dwellings to households qualified for social housing support and to households approved for a transfer, the allocation of which would, in the opinion of the authority, meet the accommodation needs and requirements of the households.
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 Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People and the Mobility Aids Grant 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 be considered for the provision of infrastructural and safety related adaptations to create appropriate space for applicants with specific sensory needs not including the provision of sensory equipment.
The Housing Aid for Older People Grant is available to assist older people living in poor housing conditions to have necessary repairs or improvements carried out. Qualifying works include structural repairs or improvements, upgrading unsafe electrical wiring, drylining, repair or replacement of windows and doors and the repair or provision of central heating (where no central heating exists or the existing system is broken or beyond repair).
Guidelines issued by my Department recommends all local authorities establish contact with the hospitals/convalescent homes in their area in relation to the administration of the grants and to prioritise applications from eligible applicants, whose discharge from hospital is dependent on the timely adaptation of their homes. The detailed administration of the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People, including the assessment, approval and prioritisation and apportionment of grant applications under the various measures, is the responsibility of each local authority.
My Department does not hold information on medical priority applicants for social housing or the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People. This information may be available directly from the local authorities.
Transitional Care Funding is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Health and the Health Service Executive.
