Disabled unable to renovate homes

15 December 2003: At least 30 disabled people across County Kildare are unable to renovate their homes to meet their special needs because the money is not being made available by the Department of the Environment.

And a request by Kildare County Council in July for €580,408 of additional funding for this purpose was refused by the department.

A recent comment by minister of state Noel Ahern that the council had now indicated that their original allocation 'will cover their requirements for this year' has been slammed as 'false and totally inaccurate' by Deputy Emmet Stagg.

Deputy Stagg said the minister, by refusing to give the extra money in July, could now make such a statement safe in the knowledge that at this time of year the problem had 'magically disappeared' because grant approvals could issue with no hope of arranging builders or expecting payments to be made before the end oof the year.