LIMERICK City and County Council have paused new applications to a โฌ5.8million scheme helping older people with house repairs so they can continue to live in their own homes.
Housing Aid for Older People Grants cater for people aged 66 and over. However Limerick City and County Council stopped accepting new applications to the scheme from today, Friday, July 25.
In a statement to the Limerick Post, a Council spokesperson said that the pause in the acceptance of applications was taken “to ensure that those applicants with the greatest need are funded under the remaining funding that is available”.
“Every effort will be made to secure additional surplus funding that may become available from the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage,” the spokesperson continued.
“In the event additional money is provided by the Department, we may be in a position to reopen the Housing Aid for Older People Grants before the end of 2025.”
This is one of three grants the Council administers on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage.
The Council is still accepting applications for the Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People Scheme and the Mobility Aid Grant.
News of the pause sparked hot debate in Dรกil รireann, with local Sinn Fรฉin TD Maurice Quinlivan describing it as a “bitter blow” to elderly and disabled citizens.
“This is not just a blow for them, it is a decision that will come as bad news for University Hospital Limerick,” he suggested.
“UHL is over capacity every day with not enough beds for those in need of medical attention. Some disabled or elderly patients will be remaining on a hospital bed in a ward for longer than necessary because they will not be able to afford to adapt their home. They will be taking beds in the hospital that could otherwise be used to accommodate other patients.”
The Sinn Fรฉin TD hit out that “when the government says repeatedly that ‘we are doing all we can to address the overcrowding issue at UHL’, one wonders if there is any joined up thinking between these departments at all”.
The local authority was allocated close to โฌ6m under the now paused scheme, with a further โฌ2.3m approved for payment in 2025.
Deputy Quinlivan has now called on Housing Minister James Browne to provide the funding for Limerick to allow people to continue living in their own homes.
A similar sentiment was shared by Limerick TD and Labour’s housing spokesperson, Conor Sheehan, who accused the government of being “asleep”.
“The fact that Limerick has had to stop accepting applications midway through the year is proof that this scheme is not working as it should,” Deputy Sheehan hit out.
