LABOUR councillor for City West Joe Leddin this week welcomed news that more than €300,000 has been awarded to Limerick City and County Council as an additional top-up to help adapt homes for tenants living with a disability.
Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, Paudie Coffey TD, approved the sanction of €315,356 for local authority housing adaptions to meet needs of tenants with disabilities in Limerick.
According to Cllr Leddin, this “cash injection” will be put to good use in Limerick and will help secure more comfortable accommodation for local authority residents with a disability.
“Living with a disability often requires modifications to a standard family home. The Council can get to work on jobs such as widening doors, fitting wheelchair accessible bathrooms, and installing chairlifts, all small things which can make a huge difference,” said Cllr Leddin.
“These essential works make the difference between living at home or becoming a long term patient in hospital. At a time when the housing budget is stretched to capacity, it is especially welcome that this money has been prioritised for this usage,” he added.
Cllr Leddin also went on to urge Limerick City and County Council, where possible, to prioritise the services of local tradespeople in carrying out these new adaptions, so that the whole county can benefit from this cash announcement.
Limerick Fine Gael TD, Dan Neville, also welcomed the funding.
“Where new houses can’t be identified for tenants with disabilities, we must do everything we can to ensure that their houses are easier to live in and that is what this funding is intended to do”, said Deputy Neville.
