Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I can assure Deputy Murphy that this Bill has nothing to do with moving people out of larger homes. It is purely a technical mechanism to allow local authorities to establish new rent schemes.

On the point made by Deputy Ellis, the Bill will facilitate the transition to HAP. We are progressing the outstanding issues with the Department of Social Protection. For example, it is proposed to introduce a deduction at source system. There are a number of issues in this regard that need to be addressed, including the economic and IT systems and so on. We are on track to bring a memorandum to Government in July and to introduce the HAP legislation in the autumn, which will flesh out how the scheme will work. We intend to introduce a small number of pilots under HAP in respect of the transition of rent supplement later this year. The full roll-out of HAP and transfer of rent supplement will be brought in gradually over the course of next year.