It is expected that by the end of 2019, Clare County Council will have spent €3m on private housing grants.

Details on the financial costs of housing grants for older people, personnel with disabilities and those in need of mobility aid were sought by Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) at a recent meeting of the local authority.

Up to October 16th, 75 grants were awarded at a cost of €902,000 in housing adaptation for the disabled. €247,804 has been allocated to 55 grants for older people with 62 mobility aid grants sanctioned at a cost of €271,250. All three schemes will reopen to new applications on January 2nd.

For the final two months of 2019, Clare County Council had 158 remaining applications with an estimated cost of €1m. 55 applications had yet to be assessed at the time of Director of Services, Anne Haugh’s reply to Cllr Flynn, should they be given the green light the approximate fee is €350,000. She confirmed that 422 applications were approved and paid in 2018 for €2.9m, this year’s equivalent was 319 applications for €1.9m.

“It is expected this Council will administer payment of close to €3,000,000 on 470 private house grants by year end. This will broadly clear the backlog of applications however there will be a carry-over of 55 applications into 2020 with an associated value of €350,000 as the grant process is organic and dependent on many factors,” Haugh stated.

Flynn told the meeting he was the councillor to recommend the suspension of grants to allow the housing staff work through the current list which he felt was effective. “For people to say it was closed entirely wasn’t true. It is work well done,” the Shannon resident stated.