Ms Jackie Harrington:

The answer is, "No." There is no payment of rent as such. However, once an individual gets status and remains in one of these centres, we will pay the individual his or her weekly social welfare payment, be it jobseeker's payment, basic supplementary welfare allowance or another payment. Social welfare legislation allows us to carry out an assessment of the non-cash benefits provided to people while in a direct provision centre. We take those into account as part of the means assessment in determining the weekly social welfare payment.