Ms Helen Faughnan:

I thank Deputy Carey for his comments. I am familiar with the position because Clare is one of my divisional areas. I know that the community welfare staff in Clare are proactive. There are some tight accommodation issues in Clare, especially for single people. They have been working with the local authority to ensure households receive the necessary accommodation.

The analysis of rent supplement and top-ups is difficult for us, mainly because people do not declare them. We are becoming more aware of them, however, when they move onto HAP.

The rent supplement increases will cost €15 million this year, that is, €12 million under the rent supplement budget and €3 million under HAP. We have a budget of €267 million which is demand led and we will be managing it. If the cost increases, we will be looking within our own resources in the Department initially, but we are happy we have sufficient resources to meet this contingency for this year. We are applying to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for the knock-on increases for next year.

The Deputy asked about the situation if a landlord is resisting HAP. At the moment, local authorities are working with landlords to encourage them to go into HAP. There are a lot of benefits for landlords in doing so. They will receive prompt full payments. Currently under rent supplement, there is a payment that the Department makes but the tenant has to make a personal contribution.

Under the HAP scheme, the full payment is made by the local authority which will recoup it from the client. This makes it easier for the landlord. All payments to landlords are made electronically and we are working with them and trying to encourage them. There are no penalties, but we will keep the position under review. If we find that landlords are resisting, we will try to figure out why and address the issue.