Disabled people may lose house grant

DISABLED people may lose funding to adapt their homes as local authorities review the grant scheme.

The grant pays 90%, up to a maximum of €20,000, to adapt a home for a disabled person.

Some county councils, such as Kilkenny, have suspended the scheme altogether.

Other cash-strapped authorities like Offaly, Longford, Laois, Kildare, Westmeath, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, South Tipperary, Sligo, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Wexford, and Fingal are all reviewing the scheme.

Many of the councils are also considering means testing the grant.

Kildare County Council is proposing not to pay a disabled person's grant to applicants with a household income exceeding €40,000.

The Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) yesterday criticised the introduction of means testing.

“The operation of the scheme has been turned into an absolute white elephant. Different criteria are operating in each county and this is being widened at the whims of local council officials,” IWA chief executive Seamus Thompson said.

Some 80% of disabled people are unemployed and can’t lead a normal life without the grant, the IWA said.

The Department of Environment and Local Government said the grant scheme is currently being reviewed.

And last night Fine Gael put down a Dáil motion calling for the grant system to be overhauled.

“This is hugely serious and some councils had paid out their totals by June last year. The system has to be rejigged immediately,” Fine Gael health spokesperson Olivia Mitchell said.