Family of boy with spina bifida forced to fundraise and borrow for essential home renovations  

Chief executive of the Jack & Jill Foundation Carmel Doyle: 'We see young families, with mortgages, struggling to raise the money for essential home renovations; how the income threshold to avail of the grant is extremely low, in turn leaving middle-income families with little or no support.'  Picture Colm Mahady / Fennells 

The parents of a child with spina bifida had to fundraise €50,000 and get a credit union loan of €30,000 to pay for essential renovations to their home, despite being in receipt of the Government’s Housing Adaptation Grant scheme.

The family of five had to move out of their home while works took place to convert a sitting room and kitchen into a bedroom and wet room with a ceiling hoist for Paul*, while also having to borrow money from family as they dealt with the financial stress of adapting their home.