I warmly welcome the restoration of the Housing Grants for pensioners which had been suspended by Dublin City Council for almost a year now. Fresh applications are being accepted from Monday 5th July. The City Council have now cleared the backlog of applications on the old grant. A budget of over €14m has been set aside to meet the needs of senior citizens applying under the grant. There are three strands to the grant:

• Housing Aid for Older People – a 100% grant in owner-occupied homes, where they are beyond repair, of up to €10,500 for structural repairs to roofs, rewiring, heating, water, sanitary services. The grant no longer covers replacement windows. It covers central heating where there is no system but only boiler replacement where there is an existing heating system.
• Mobility Aids – a 100% grant of up to €6,000 to address mobility problems, certified by a doctor (e.g. rails, ramps, stair-lifts and level access showers) in owned or private rented home.
• Housing Adaptation (Disability) – a 95% grant of up to €30,000 to adapt a home to suit the needs of a person with an enduring disability (e.g. downstairs toilet/showers, wheelchair adaptation, extension, etc.) in owned or private rented homes. The works must be certified necessary by a doctor and may require an Occupational Therapist Report.

The full grants above apply if the gross income of the owner and their spouse is less than €30,000, dropping on a graduated basis to 30% for incomes €54,000–€65,000.

Hello,

Thanks for clicking onto my new website. I hope it is a useful resource for local news and information on your entitlements. You can also follow the work I do for Dublin North Central and in the Dail.

We can build a stronger local community by developing new initiatives to help our children do better in School, to help patients get quicker access to care, to make criminals think twice because of a high likelihood of being caught. I keep a close eye on how these local services are getting on.

Ireland is facing huge economic challenges. Mistakes by bankers, regulators and politicians are now severely hurting families and small and medium sized businesses. Rather than sit back and watch the crisis unfold, Fine Gael is ready to take bold and urgent corrective action to fix Ireland:
 Fix the Public Finances
 Fix the Banks
 Fix the Health Service
 Create Jobs
 Foster innovation and restore competitiveness

If you’d like to help out or volunteer I’d love to hear from you. If I can be of assistance in any matter please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best Wishes,

Richard

I welcome An Bord Pleanala’s decision to reject Dublin Port’s proposal to infill 52 acres of the bay.

However, it is disappointing that the Board did not accept its own inspector’s view that the infill of 52 acres is in conflict with Government port policy, with the balanced development of the city, and with the need for flood protection. The sole ground for refusal is that the port failed to establish that the development would not damage the natural amenity of the bay. This narrow decision will leave the port hoping it can try again in the future.

The new Special Protection Order covering the entire bay from the Minister does not seem to have carried any weight with the board.

The tremendous work to stop the infill by the Clontarf Residents Association and Dublin Bay Watch has been vindicated by this decision. However the battle to protect the bay is not over.

The city development plan needs to develop a proper policy that accommodates essential port needs without encroachment on the natural amenity of the bay.