Grant Payments
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-25
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Gareth Scahill (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I need assistive technology for the ringtone. I thank the Minister of State very much for his response. The review of the schemes took place in 2024. An awful lot of the recommendations have been enacted, which is wonderful. That is not something we are used to. It shows that the Minister has listened and adapted and changed the schemes.
There is a scheme to provide solar panels to medically vulnerable individuals. I was trying to see if I could get a generator or a back-up battery to support the individual. It is quite a unique case. In most cases the council could put a bathroom and bedroom downstairs. Local authorities must have discretion to evaluate cases that do not fall within the parameters. It is the same with accessible extensions for children. The local authority listened to the review, and applied the recommendations to the applicants – the income generators in the house, who are the mother and father – but the child was not factored in. Perhaps that is the element that we need. In this situation we cannot wait for the child's condition to deteriorate and then react to it. We need to be proactive in these situations.
ALONE produced a pre-budget submission. There is a lot in it about house adaptations and accessibility. Perhaps it is something we could have a chat about offline. I thank the Minister of State very much.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-25