COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 14, 2014

QUESTION NO. 16

QUESTION: Councillor E. Tuffy

To ask the Manager how much money is available at this point for the 3 Housing Grants Schemes, the Mobility Grants, the Disability Grants and the Essential Repairs Grants for Older People?

REPLY:

The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, by letter dated 16th January 2014, advised the Council of a combined Capital Allocation of €1,667,043 for the 3 Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People and People with a Disability, for 2014.  This annual Capital Allocation is not specifically apportioned to any of the three Housing Grant Schemes or to any of the electoral areas in the county.

To date this year expenditure of €245,000 has been incurred countywide on the three Housing Grant Schemes, and grants to the value of an additional sum of €296,580 have been approved but not yet paid out. 

In correspondence received from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government the Council continues to be advised that local authorities should ensure that funds are targeted at essential works only and that an effective and easy to understand scheme of prioritisation be in place to ensure that applications are prioritised on the basis of the medical needs of the applicant. The three levels of medical priority advised to this Council are as follows:

  1.  Priority 1: Terminally ill or mainly dependent on family or a carer, or where alterations/adaptations would facilitate the discharge from hospital or alleviate hospitalisation in the future.
  2. Priority 2: Mobile, but needs assistance in accessing facilities, or where, without the adaptation the disabled persons' ability to function independently would be hindered.
  3. Priorty3: The applicant is independent, but requires special facilities to improve their quality of life, e.g. separate bedroom or living space.

Applicants who do not have the highest medical priority are informed in writing that funding is not currently available to allow their applications to be approved. However that is not to say that applications falling into Priority 2 & 3 may not be favourably considered later in the year subject to available resources.