Louth County Council to reopen HAG scheme this month Dáil hears

Louth County Council is to reopen for applications to its Housing Adaptation Grant (HAG) scheme in mid-October, Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan TD, told the Dáil on Tuesday.

Louth TD Fergus O'Dowd had raised the matter in the Dáíl this week, along with Deputy Paul McAuliffe, calling for additional funding for housing adaptation grants to enable local authorities to clear waiting lists, highlighting that "part of the problem is that the county councils have to provide 20% of the funding themselves."

Among his comments on the issue, Deputy O'Dowd told the Dáil that in Louth there are 562 applicants on a waiting list, adding that "this is a shocking figure, but, wait for it, Louth County Council, in its wisdom, decided some months ago that anybody else who applies can take their applications back and apply again on 1 January 2024."

In his response to Deputy O'Dowd, Minister Noonan said that "the Department encourages all local authorities to ensure all applications on hand are processed to the degree possible for final payment to ensure optimal spend on their annual allocation.

"Throughout 2023, the Department has continued to approve additional funding to local authorities, with ten local authorities, including Louth County Council, receiving approval for additional funding so far in 2023, with further requests currently under review.

"In 2022, Louth County Council received an allocation of almost €2.25 million and spent just over €1.35 million.

"During 2023, Louth County Council received approval for a further allocation of over €570,000 in Exchequer funding, bringing its total Exchequer funding to over €2.4 million. On foot of this additional funding, the Department has been informed by Louth County Council that it is preparing to reopen its schemes by mid-October, which is very welcome."

The Minister added, "Housing for All commits to undertaking a review, as has been stated, of the range of housing grants available to assist with meeting specific housing needs for our ageing population and people with a disability. 

"The report on the review of the housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability has been prepared by the Department. Among the areas which the review considered are the income thresholds and the grant limits. I think this report is due to be published very shortly."