Demand for house adaptation grants to exceed €10m this year

Demand for house adaptation grants for disabled and elderly people in Co Cork will exceed €10m this year.

However, it looks likely that the Government will cut the budget for such grants in 2013.

County manager Martin Riordan said he expected the Department of the Environment’s allocation for likely improvement works “to be considerably less than provided” for in 2012.

So far this year, the council has paid out grants for home adaptations totalling €7,912,461.

It has a further €2,253,507 to pay out to applicants who have already been approved.

This brings the total potential commitment to more than €10m, which is over budget.

The local authority pays 20% of the grants itself and it has gone over its own budget for such works by €502,594.

Councillors have approved the overspend to meet the enormous demand, and have applied for additional funding from the Government to cover the deficit.

However, there is no guarantee that County Hall will receive it.

Mr Riordan said staff had dealt with an “incredible amount of activity” this year when it came to processing the grants.

Cllr Noel Collins (Ind) said additional funding was urgently needed for elderly and handicapped people to enable them to have more mobility at home.

“If [Local Government] Minister Phil Hogan has a heart, he will open his purse,” said Mr Collins.

Mr Riordan, however, said if approval was not forthcoming he would have to carry the deficit over into next year’s accounts. Added to the expected reduction in the Department of Environment’s normal 80% contribution, the carry-over would reduce next year’s allocations even further.

Cllr Kevin O’Keeffe (FF) said he was concerned the council had now “locked in money” for the grants with no assurance they would be reimbursed.

However, he said the grants represented value for money in the current economic climate as labour charges had dropped and small contractors were crying out for work.