Last updated: September 2026. Human compiled and fact checked against each named source, most recently on 30 September 2026.
The bathroom is where Ireland’s ageing population meets its housing stock. One in eight people aged 70 and over needed medical attention for a fall in a single year, the number of people aged 65 and over is on course to rise by 79% by 2042, and the State now funds around 17,000 home adaptation claims a year, most of them centred on getting people safely in and out of a shower. This page gathers the current Irish figures on bathroom and accessibility renovation, from the demand drivers to the grants and the cost of the work, each linked to its primary source. It is part of a series with our home renovation and extension statistics, attic conversion statistics, home energy and retrofit statistics, building cost statistics and housing stock and vacancy statistics.
Key Bathroom and Accessibility Renovation Statistics for Ireland at a Glance
- One in eight people aged 70 and over (12%) required medical attention for a fall within twelve months, about 62,000 older adults, and one in sixteen (6%) attended an emergency department. Source: TILDA, the DEFINED Study, March 2026
- More than one in five older people who needed medical attention for a fall had no access to a specialist falls assessment clinic, and Ireland has no national falls prevention strategy. Source: TILDA, March 2026
- 886,937 people in Ireland are aged 65 or over in 2026, 16.2% of the population, rising to 1,398,923 by 2042, an increase of 79% on 2022 (all calculated). Source: CSO, Population Projections, table PEC19, M2 scenario
- More than 25% of people aged 65 and over live alone, rising to 44% of those aged over 85, out of 425,974 people living alone in total. Source: CSO, Census 2022 Profile 3
- Over 1.1 million people (22% of the population) reported a long-lasting condition or difficulty in Census 2022, including 407,342 people (8%) affected to a great extent. Source: CSO, Census 2022 Profile 4
- 15,700 housing adaptation grant claims were processed across the 31 local authorities in 2025, with around 17,000 funded for 2026. Source: Department of Housing, 9 March 2026
- Housing adaptation funding for 2026 is €129.5 million in exchequer money plus local authority contributions, a projected €152.35 million in total. Source: Department of Housing, 9 March 2026
- Grants reach €40,000 for adapting a home for a disabled person, €10,700 for repairs and improvements for older people and €8,000 for mobility aids such as a level access shower. Source: gov.ie, Housing Adaptation Grants
- Wholesale prices for plumbing materials including sanitary ware stood at 126.3 in July 2026 (2021 = 100), down 1.6% in a year but 30.5% above January 2021 (calculated). Source: CSO, Wholesale Price Index, table WPM39
- Around a third of Ireland’s 1,836,728 occupied dwellings, more than 655,000 homes, have three bedrooms, and two thirds of occupied homes (66.9%, calculated) were built before 2001. Sources: CSO, Census 2022 Profile 2 and table FY033A
Falls: the Evidence That Drives Bathroom Adaptation
The clearest case for an accessible bathroom is the falls data. Research published in March 2026 from the DEFINED Study, run by The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing at Trinity College Dublin and published in BMJ Open, found that one in eight people aged 70 and over, 12%, required medical attention for a fall within a twelve month period, which equates to almost 62,000 older adults a year. One in sixteen, 6%, attended an emergency department after a fall, more than 32,000 presentations, according to the TILDA summary of the study.
The study describes falls as the most common cause of fractures among older adults and a leading contributor to reduced mobility, loss of independence and hospital admission, and notes that someone who falls once is at significantly increased risk of falling again. It also found that more than one in five older people who required medical attention for a fall did not have access to a specialist falls assessment clinic, that over half of those presenting to emergency departments after a fall were prescribed medications known to increase falls risk, and that Ireland currently has no national falls prevention strategy. TILDA’s principal investigator, Regius Professor Rose Anne Kenny, is quoted in the same release describing falls as preventable rather than inevitable.
Modifying the home is one part of a wider prevention picture that also includes medication review and strength and balance programmes. What a builder can change is the physical environment: step free access, a level access shower in place of a bath, slip resistant flooring, grab rails fixed to solid backing, better lighting and a wider door opening.
How Fast Ireland Is Ageing
Demand for this work grows with the population it serves. Using the CSO’s central M2 projection scenario in table PEC19, the number of people aged 65 and over rises from 781,299 in 2022 to 886,937 in 2026 and 1,398,923 by 2042, with all totals and shares below calculated by summing the single year of age figures.
| Year | Population aged 65 and over | Share of total population | Change on 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 781,299 | 15.1% | Baseline |
| 2026 | 886,937 | 16.2% | +13.5% |
| 2042 | 1,398,923 | 22.9% | +79.1% |
| 2057 | 1,879,434 | 29.2% | +140.6% |
Source for the table: calculated from CSO Population Projections table PEC19, M2 net migration scenario. Within four decades, close to three in ten people in Ireland are projected to be aged 65 or over, against about one in seven at Census 2022.
Living arrangements matter as much as the raw count. Census 2022 recorded 425,974 people living alone, 8% of everyone in private households, and more than 25% of people aged 65 and over lived alone, rising to 44% of those aged over 85, per the CSO Census 2022 Profile 3. A person living alone who cannot use their own bathroom safely has no informal backup at home.
Disability and Long Lasting Conditions
Accessibility work is not only about age. Census 2022 recorded that over 1.1 million people, 22% of the population, experienced at least one long lasting condition or difficulty, of whom 407,342 people (8% of the population) were affected to a great extent and a further 702,215 (14%) to some extent, according to the CSO Census 2022 Profile 4. The same profile counted unpaid carers, of whom almost two thirds, 191,489 people, were aged between 40 and 64, and 57% of carers aged over 15 were also at work. A bathroom that a person can use independently reduces the physical demand on the person caring for them.
The Grant System Behind the Work
Most accessibility work in private homes in Ireland is part funded through the Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People, administered by the 31 local authorities. The Department of Housing announced on 9 March 2026 that 15,700 grant claims were processed across the local authorities in 2025, and that €129.5 million in exchequer funding, an increase of €30 million on the previous year, combined with projected local authority contributions of €22.85 million, will bring 2026 funding to €152.35 million and deliver around 17,000 claims. The scheme has seen year on year funding increases since 2014.
| Grant | Maximum amount | Typical bathroom related works |
|---|---|---|
| Housing Adaptation Grant for Disabled People | €40,000 | Accessible bathrooms and wet rooms, extensions, through floor lifts, ramps |
| Housing Aid for Older People | €10,700 | Necessary repairs and improvements, including bathroom repairs |
| Mobility Aids Grant | €8,000 | Level access showers, grab rails, stair lifts, ramps |
Source for the table: gov.ie, Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and Disabled People, amounts as published in 2026. Grants are means tested against household income and the local authority assesses the works and costs.
The money is not spread evenly, because the population is not. The four Dublin local authorities have a projected combined allocation of €35.98 million for 2026, 23.6% of the national total (calculated from the county table in the same Department announcement), with Dublin City alone allocated €15.38 million including the local authority contribution.
The Homes Being Adapted
In Dublin, where the four local authorities share €35.98 million of the 2026 adaptation grant allocation, the stock is older again, with 72.5% of occupied homes built before 2001. See our Dublin home renovation and extension statistics page.
Census 2022 counted 1,836,728 occupied dwellings, of which approximately a third, more than 655,000, had three bedrooms, a quarter had four bedrooms and 16% had two, per the CSO Census 2022 Profile 2. South Dublin had the highest proportion of three bedroom dwellings in the country at 48%. The standard Irish three bed semi places the main bathroom upstairs, which is why so many adaptation projects involve either a stair lift, a ground floor shower room or a small extension rather than a simple refit.
The stock is also old. Excluding households where the year of construction was not stated, 1,200,514 occupied homes, 66.9%, were built before 2001 and 523,039, 29.2%, before 1971 (both calculated from Census 2022 table FY033A). Homes of that age were built to narrower door and corridor standards than current Part M guidance for new dwellings, so making one step free is usually building work rather than a fittings change.
Bathroom reconfigurations that need permission show up in the CSO planning figures as alterations and conversions, a category that recorded 4,138 permissions for dwellings in 2025 and 1,240 in the first quarter of 2026 alone (calculated from CSO table BHQ13), rising to 1,388 in the second quarter of 2026, up 37.3% year on year (calculated from the same table following the CSO release of 17 September 2026). Many bathroom projects need no planning permission at all, so the true volume is higher, and the same caveat is explained on our attic conversion statistics page.
What Bathroom Work Costs to Deliver in 2026
The inputs to a bathroom quote have settled after a steep climb. The CSO’s Wholesale Price Index table WPM39 puts plumbing materials including sanitary ware at 126.3 in July 2026 on a 2021 base of 100, which is 1.6% cheaper than a year earlier but 30.5% above the 96.8 recorded in January 2021 (calculated). Pipework has moved the other way in the last year, with PVC pipes and fittings up 5.4% and copper pipes and fittings up 5.0%, while glass rose 4.0% and the all materials index rose 3.3%.
Labour and tender prices are the other half. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland recorded a 3% rise in tender prices in the first half of 2026, the largest six monthly increase in three and a half years, per its August 2026 Tender Price Index, and average weekly earnings in construction reached €1,089.21 in Quarter 2 2026, from CSO table EHQ03. Our building and renovation cost statistics page tracks both in full. For a grant funded adaptation this matters directly, because the grant ceilings are fixed in cash terms while the works they buy are not.
Method and Sources
Every figure was taken from the named primary source on 21 September 2026: the TILDA DEFINED Study summary published by Trinity College Dublin in March 2026, reporting research published in BMJ Open; CSO Population Projections table PEC19 (M2 scenario); CSO Census 2022 Profile 2 Housing in Ireland, Profile 3 Households and Families, Profile 4 Disability, Health and Carers, and table FY033A; the Department of Housing statement of 9 March 2026 and the Housing Adaptation Grants scheme page on gov.ie; CSO Wholesale Price Index table WPM39 (July 2026 data); CSO Planning Permissions table BHQ13; CSO Earnings table EHQ03; and the SCSI Tender Price Index of 25 August 2026. Figures marked calculated were derived by OS Holding from the cited tables, specifically the population aged 65 and over and its shares and growth rates summed from single year of age projections, the period built shares excluding not stated responses, the Dublin share of adaptation grant funding, the plumbing index change against January 2021, and the annual planning permission totals summed from quarterly data. The page will be refreshed when the Department of Housing announces the 2027 adaptation grant allocations in March, with each monthly WPM39 release, and when the CSO publishes new population projections.
How OS Holding Helps
OS Holding builds accessible bathroom renovations across Dublin, including level access showers and wet rooms, ground floor shower rooms formed inside existing space or in a small extension, wider door openings, and the plumbing and electrical work each involves. If you are applying for a housing adaptation grant and need a written quote for your local authority, request a quote or contact the team for a site survey. Journalists and researchers are welcome to quote any figure here with a link to the source and to this page.
