Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Faughnan for her report. A lot of stuff has been covered, so she will be happy to know I will not repeat anything. I just want to touch on the exceptional needs payment. Ms Faughnan said that the Department considers payment towards deposits. In my constituency of Dublin Bay North we have a serious issue where people have presented themselves to the welfare officer and have been refused. Are the criteria different for certain areas? We have had cases in other parts of the constituency where people got it. It would be helpful if Ms Faughnan could let us know the criteria or whether it is at the discretion of the welfare officer. It seems be happening quite frequently. For people to present themselves to the welfare officer, they are really in need. To be turned way is quite distressing for them.

I want to raise again what Deputy Collins said regarding top-up payments. No disrespect, but we are in cloud-cuckoo-land if we think landlords will present documentation to say that they were doing things that were illegal or were operating under the table, so to speak. We have to go back to the drawing board and look at that again because we will face the situation where tenants can avail themselves of the new top-up, but because of the criteria presented by the Department it will be next to or near impossible for them to get it.

That is something we will really have to look at, because we will find that we have more people out there who cannot afford to pay their rent, who will be struggling and will face homelessness because they do not reach the criteria to apply for the top-up.