Kildare TD introduces bill to speed up decision-making of housing adaption grants for people with disabilities

Fianna Fáil Kildare North TD, Frank O’Rourke has introduced a Bill aimed at speeding up the decision making in respect to housing adaptation grants for those with a disability.

Speaking following first stage of the Bill in Dáil Éireann last week, Deputy O’Rourke said, “This much needed Bill would ensure that a decision would be made on a housing adaptation grant within four weeks from the receipt of the application by the local authority. I introduced this Bill with my Party colleague, Deputy Willie O’Dea to make the system more efficient and effective and to have it operate evenly across all counties with a universal approach. At the moment people are unnecessarily delayed in nursing homes and hospitals due to the amount of time needed to process and approve grants, which take approximately six months on average across all local authorities. They are being branded with the unsavoury term ‘bed blocker’, as a result."

“We know people who are elderly or ill are more comfortable and independent when living in their own home, and this is about making the process more efficient. None of us want to see situations whereby people who want to be in their own home and who could be in their own home are not able to due to bureaucratic processes. They need to have this work done on their homes and for the most part they need it done urgently. We need to be mindful of the fact that in Ireland over the next 30 years, the number of people over the age of 65 will double and the number over the age of 85 will quadruple. We need to have the processes in place now to look after and protect those people and not let a crisis come upon us in years to come."

“This is an important Bill. The funding is in place in local authorities so no additional cost will be imposed. It is about making the system more transparent, efficient and effective and helping those in need to get meaningful and timely access to the funding”, concluded Deputy O’Rourke.