Housing adaptation grants in Louth
Deputy Byrne first referred to Kyran Durnin before raising the need for more funding for housing adaptation grants in County Louth. The Minister said local authority allocations had been made, grant levels were increased after a review, and significant Exchequer funding was provided to Louth.
I will take a moment to mention Kyran Durnin who should be celebrating his ninth birthday with his family and loved ones today but who instead is subject to a major Garda investigation to try to determine his whereabouts and whether he is even still alive. I know Kyran's family is holding a candlelit vigil in Drogheda this evening. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
There is a need for additional funding and resources for the three housing adaptation grant schemes in County Louth. Last week, just over a third of the way through the year, Louth County Council sent a circular saying it could not accept any more housing grant applications for anything other than priority 1 applications due to funding constraints. This is not the first time that Louth County Council has had to stop taking applications for these schemes. Something similar happened in 2023. Additional funding was announced last Monday, but when I spoke to Louth County Council, I discovered that it had factored that increase in and still had to pause applications. Every application represents a person struggling to stay in their own home with the support of loved ones. Despite assertions from An Taoiseach that there is a culture of dependency within local authorities for handouts, the fact remains that local authorities are still under-resourced and our citizens suffer unless the Government properly funds these schemes. I urge immediate engagement with Louth County Council housing officials to address this concerning development.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy. Allocations have been made to local authorities in the last week in relation to housing adaptation grants. There has been significant change in grants following a review last year. The mobility aid grant has gone from €6,000 to €8,000, the housing aid for older persons grant has increased from €8,000 to €10,700 and the housing adaptation grant has gone from €30,000 to €40,000. I do not have the exact figure, but, from memory, I think that approximately €2.7 million in Exchequer funding was allocated to the local authority in Louth last week. I can get the exact figure for the Deputy. The Department is open to continued engagement with all local authorities. We have given further allocations in the past, but there will be significant uplift of upwards of 30% across many local authorities in light of the changes.