Ms Jackie Harrington:

Yes. I will arrange to send that information to the committee. In relation to rent supplement, my understanding is that generally people in direct provision tend to stay in the locality or area where the direct provision centre was located. Most people do not necessarily want to leave there because they have built up links in the local community and their children are at school there, among other factors. Based on the information I have from the Department of Justice and Equality, people tend to stay in the same area.

Generally speaking, people in direct provision who want to get rent supplement must have a social housing assessment carried out by the local authority. Our policy is generally to have the assessment carried out by the local authority in the area where the person wishes to reside, although there is some flexibility in particular among the Dublin local authority areas. Once that is done, we will administer and pay rent supplement. I am not sure whether that answers the Deputy’s question.