Louth County Council seeking €570k additional funding for HAGs

Louth County Council has applied to the Department of Housing for an additional €570k to help deal with the extreme pressures facing the Housing Adaptation Grants (HAGs) scheme in County Louth, according to Louth TD, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd.

The Fine Gael TD said, “Earlier this year Louth County Council were granted €1.86m in exchequer funding for the grant scheme in 2023, the council then have to match fund 20% which brought the total amount available to €2.33m for 2023.

“Whilst this was a welcome year on year increase it was quite simply not enough to manage the significant number of applications received under the scheme.

“The council closed the application process and any applications subsequently submitted were returned to the sender which was something I found unfair and insensitive, considering that many of the applicants are very vulnerable and in need of urgent assistance.

“Housing adaptions and aids can be the difference between someone having to move to full-time care or being able to stay in their own home and maintain their independence.”

Deputy O'Dowd continued, “I raised this issue on the Dail floor with Minister Kieran O’Donnell on the 18th of May and requested that the government sanction additional funding to Louth County Council urgently considering the 300+ backlog in the system.

“Minister O’Brien’s further response outlines that only four Local Authorities have applied for additional funding. I will be pressing the Minister to approve the additional request from Louth County Council as soon as possible so more people can avail of this vital scheme.”