I propose to take Questions Nos. 143 and 156 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. This 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 2025 was increased substantially by €25 million to €99.5 million, or over €117 million when accounting for the local authority contribution. Sligo County Council received an Exchequer allocation of almost €1.8 million, an increase of 35% on the original allocation in 2024. My Department works closely with 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 with high levels of grant activity. My Department makes every effort to redistribute such funding throughout the year. If a local authority requires additional funding in any year, it can submit details to my Department in order to be considered for increased funding, subject to availability from savings in other local authorities. During 2025, my Department considered and approved two additional funding allocations totalling €453,670 from Sligo County Council, bringing the total Exchequer allocation for 2025 to over €2.24 million. The total funding drawn down by local authorities in 2025 will be available on my Department's website shortly. While additional Exchequer funding may become available, the local authorities must provide the match funding from their own resources and therefore the local authorities are also managing the scheme within the resources allocated at the local level. Local authorities now contribute 15% in conjunction with the 85% Exchequer allocation, compared to the previous higher percentage of 20%. This reduction in local authority contribution is one of the reforms implemented under the revised scheme introduced on 1 December 2024. My Department advises local authorities annually that, as far as practicable, a percentage of the allocation under the schemes should be ring-fenced in respect of any emergency applications which might arise under these schemes during the course of the year. Budget 2026 provides an increase of €30 million for the scheme, with almost €130 million in Exchequer funding available for the scheme, or over €152 million when accounting for the local authority contribution. This significant increase in funding will support the payment of some 17,000 grant claims as well as the continued implementation of the revised grant limits, the income thresholds and the increase in the Exchequer contribution from 80% to 85%. This additional €30 million in funding is in line with commitments in the programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future and Delivering Homes, Building Communities, and ensures the continued year-on-year increases in funding for the grant scheme since 2014. My Department will issue notification shortly of each local authority's allocation for 2026 under the scheme. Importantly, all local authorities can commit up to 75% of their 2025 allocation when approving applications to be paid in 2026, ensuring a seamless transition of the schemes remaining open from year to year.

Sentiment score: 0.33

By way of information and to be consistent, I will give Deputy Ó Murchú an indication of the funding for Louth. He did not ask this specifically, but I want it to be consistent with the information for Sligo. During 2025, my Department considered and approved an additional funding allocation of €150,000 for Louth County Council, bringing its total allocation to €2.8 million for 2025. Louth County Council drew down this allocation in full. The total funding drawdowns by local authorities will be available on my Department's website shortly. I say to Deputy Scanlon that there were two requests for additional funding from Sligo County Council. They were both approved and the full amounts on both occasions were spent. Some local authorities are not spending their full allocation. That is something I am conscious of. We look to redistribute to local authorities that are spending. Louth and Sligo both fall into that category. The scheme announced in December made many changes. We increased the income and the grant limits. We brought in increased allowances. I was directly involved in it myself. At the time, I was no longer the Minister of State with responsibility for local government, but I worked on it with officials prior to that point. I, like everyone else, recognise it is hugely important. The disabled persons' grant has been increased to €40,000. The Deputy might provide detail on the specific individual cases and we may be able follow up on those. The core point is that we have increased the funding. There is a 30% increase this year. The contribution from local authorities has gone from 20% to 15%, which means the contribution from the local authorities has gone down, but the State is contributing that directly. This is a hugely important grant scheme and something the Government has prioritised. The allocation for 2026 is €130 million, which will assist 17,000 people.

Sentiment score: 0.16

We hope to be in a position to announce the allocations for 2026 shortly. As I said, we have increased the funding this year by €30 million, a 30% increase, one of largest increases in any spending items, because it is of such importance. Again, it feeds into keeping people living at home independently. Deputy Ó Murchú mentioned particular cases and he might come to me with them. They may involve multiple agencies. However, we have ensured that people on lower incomes are getting 100% of the housing adaptation grant. That was 90% under the old scheme. The housing adaptation grant for disabled people has been increased to €40,000. The housing aid for older people grant has been increased to €10,700. The mobility aids grant is €8,000. This point is worth repeating. The local authorities are entitled to commit up to 75% of their 2025 allocations for improvement applications to be paid in 2026. There is no reason applications cannot proceed. The funding allocation for 2026 will be announced shortly by the Department. Furthermore, we want to see local authorities spending the money allocated to them. Louth and Sligo came back in for further funding.

Sentiment score: 0.22

We very much understand. Sligo came back in twice and Louth came back once. The message is that the Government is very much committed to giving this extra funding of €30 million. We want to see local authorities spending that money, which will make a real difference to people's lives in their homes.

Sentiment score: 0.17