Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask about the rent supplement and top-up payments and supports the Department gives. When representatives of Threshold appeared before the committee earlier today, we were told that rent supplement had remained at 2013 levels, but it had been cut by 28% prior to then. In two years rents in Dublin West have risen by €341 per month. Therefore, in my area rent supplement lags behind by approximately €400 per month. Rents are at bubble levels, but rent supplement has decreased. Given these figures, what responsibility does the Department have for dealing with the housing and homelessness crisis? It has been advising the Minister to keep rent supplement at its current level. Last year it conducted a review and stated rent supplement should be left at the same level, despite every homeless agency telling it that there was a need for an increase. Does it have any responsibility for the fact that people who are swimming against the tide are becoming homeless because they cannot find properties or afford to stay in them? Has it been using the rent supplement scheme as a form of rent control on the backs of the poorest people in the State, while knowing full well that rents have risen?

Focus Ireland has stated the making of top-up payments is universal, yet the former Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, has said there is "no evidence" that this practice is widespread. Is this the only form of social welfare fraud about which the Department is in denial? Is this because the people affected have to defraud themselves and the Department does not care. It has used the word "fraud" to describe what people are doing in paying above the rent supplement limit and breaking its rules. However, it does not care because they are only defrauding themselves. It is turning a blind eye to this practice.

We all know that lone parents are particularly vulnerable right now because of all the cuts they have had to endure. If people are paying up to €100 a month plus their €30 a week, what level of poverty do the witnesses think that is creating?

My third question concerns the general supports for those who living through this housing crisis. In 2014 an EU survey found that 54% of people renting in Ireland were living in deprivation. The figure for owner-occupiers in the same position was approximately 5%. We know where the poverty lies; it lies in the private rented sector because of the type of rents people are paying. Do the witnesses think there is an acceptable level of support and social protection for those people?

Exceptional needs payments for people in emergency accommodation are mentioned on page 4 of the witnesses' presentation. I have seen far too many of those people in Dublin West in recent times. Assisting people with travel costs is given as an example of such payments in the presentation. However, I put a parliamentary question to the Department of Education and Skills in April for which the reply was that "no assessment has been conducted on the school transport needs of homeless children." Was that reply incorrect? The witnesses are telling us they are giving money to people who are travelling the length and breadth of Dublin in many cases. No hotels take people in Dublin 15, for example, so they are travelling two bus journeys away. I cannot think of anyone who has told me about getting any help.

Is there any extra allowance for food for families living in hotels, given that they have no cooking facilities and have to go out and buy food continually? Given that there is a housing and homelessness crisis, I see no extra support being provided to families. The Department has set its face against increasing the rent allowance, which has made the situation much worse.