Man (66) left in limbo for months over a grant to replace windows

A Kingswood homeowner who suffers from serious respiratory issues has been left in limbo for months by the council over a grant for replacing his windows and doors.

Pete Brennan (66), who suffers from asthma, applied for the Housing Aid for Older People Grant from South Dublin County Council on advice from the respiratory team at Tallaght University Hospital.

“My health suffers greatly in the wintertime, I end up in ICU on numerous occasions,” Pete, who spent three months in a coma with Covid, explained.

“My house is a bungalow that has seven windows that have been in the house since the 80s, and they are now in a really terrible state of repair.”

The Housing Aid for Older People Grant (HOP) is for people 66-years-old or more to do essential repairs, so that they can continue to live in their own home.

The grant can be used to help repair or replace the roof, upgrade electrical wiring, repair or replace doors and windows, repair heating where it is broken or provide heating where there is no heating.

The person applying for the grant must own their home or have a right to live in the home (right of residence) where the work will be done.

The maximum grant available is €10,700, and Pete was awarded €5,448 towards replacing his windows in April 2025, after submitting his application in January.

However the letter approving his grant made no mention of his application for a replacement back door, and any quotes Pete received for the costs of the works needed were all well above €10,000.

He said he has continuously attempted to contact the housing grant office at SDCC for advice on how to proceed to no avail.

“I was ringing and getting through after an average of 15 minutes to the customer care section, and they put me through to the department, and with that waiting and waiting and nothing happened and I’m cut off or sent back right back down to customer care,” he explained.

Pete even went into County Hall in the hopes of speaking directly to someone in the council’s housing department, which administers the HOP and other grant schemes, but was told “nobody will come down”.

He was given headed paper by a staff member in the customer service office to write a letter, but has received no reply there either.

Just before speaking to The Echo this week, he said he tried ringing them again.

“I got through the customer care, and after 12 minutes, I gave up, it just rang with no answer whatsoever.”

Pete reached out to John Lahart, Fianna Fail TD for Dublin South West, who has contacted the council on his behalf but has also heard nothing back beyond notice that his representation has been received.

South Dublin County Council were approached for comment on this matter but had not responded by time of print.

As winter approaches again, Pete is anxious for the work to be done but has been left extremely frustrated by the lack of communication from the council to his concerns.

“I’m very positive and very healthy – I’m also very challenged,” he said.

“That’s why I’m not letting this go. I want to find out why certain things haven’t been included, basically all I really wanted at the start of all of this was just get some information to make a proper decision.

“But nobody from that department has come forward to help me along, even with the letters and emails.

“What I’m looking for now is an answer.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.