Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to see my friends from the Department of Social Protection before the committee and I thank them for their work.

There are a couple of matters that need to be addressed. As we have stated on many occasions, the Department of Social Protection was an emergency housing support. It was not a housing body and it should never become a housing body. A former Minister in that area, Ms Mary Coughlan, brought that to the attention of the Houses of the Oireachtas a few years ago. What became an emergency support is now an ongoing support and the Department of Social Protection should not be involved in that aspect as it falls to another Department.

The points raised by a number of members are valid. In terms of up-front payments, one month's rent in advance and exceptional needs payment for the person about to rent a house on rent support and on the HAP, it is difficult to access support in some cases. For want of a better description, it is patchy. In some cases, depending on who is dealing with it, it works well. In other cases, it does not and one might well be waiting for some considerable time. I am aware there is discretion in that regard, although it does not always apply.

The other part is the top-up for the HAP. The HAP was never intended to have a top-up. It was supposed to be the answer in terms of bringing it back to the responsibility of the local authorities. If we have a system whereby the tenant is supposed to pay a top-up on top of that again, it seems to defeat the purpose of the exercise. The question that arises is, at what stage do we say that we can no longer support the increase because to do so would mean we are contributing to inflation in the market?

I would like to know the degree to which the number of exceptional needs payments have increased or decreased over the past two or three years. What is the total number of families now reliant on rent support, support through the HAP or one of the various supports, be it related to rent support, the RAS or otherwise?

The total number gives an idea of the extent to which we need to address this issue.

I have covered the exceptional needs payments.

Where a case has been determined, the appeals system is patchy. It takes considerable time to activate it and get a result from it. This affects a household that might have been reliant on rent support and, possibly, carer's allowance, for example. If, for one reason or another, a payment is stopped, it takes quite a while to address the issue and a great deal of hardship is caused to the individual before he or she can gain access to the support system again.

The last point I wish to make concerns procedures. The system was working quite well for a while, depending on the individuals who dealt with cases where rent had increased within reason and where it was found necessary to make an increase on foot of documentary evidence. A supplementary welfare application form is 29, 30 or 40 pages in length. When I see a case and especially if I see five or six in the one day, I get chilblains. There should be a simplified system which would speed up the process and cost the Department less. Less time would also be spent in making assessments. Every time I see a voluminous application form I know straightaway that it will require a huge input in terms of the labour required in assessing it.