Ms Helen Faughnan:

I shall respond to the last speaker first regarding the reduction in the amounts paid. Approximately €80 million was the difference between last year's rent supplement expenditure and that of 2011. Approximately €20 million of that sum was related to rent limits and the remainder was for increase in the minimum contribution. Budget 2012 increased the minimum contribution that each tenant had to pay which reduced the expenditure on rent supplement.

There was also a reduction in the number of people claiming rent supplement. I want to reiterate that rent supplement is a demand-led scheme. People are finding accommodation and 48,700 rent supplement claims were awarded last year. People are securing accommodation and their payments are being met. Last year there was a drop in the live register of about 45,500 people over the 2011 figures. A small proportion of people on the live register claim rent supplement, approximately 10% if I remember correctly. Therefore, I do not accept Senator Hayden's claim that access to the supplement was limited by stealth. Rent supplement is a demand-led scheme and people will be assisted if they present with a need for accommodation and discretion still exists, particularly for the homeless.

I was responsible for the homeless male and female units in Dublin. The staff who work in those units do fantastic work in engaging with people who are at risk of becoming homeless. Part of their work is liaising with organisations such as the Simon Community, Threshold and the Fr. McVerry Trust. If someone at risk of homelessness is brought to their attention they will try to secure accommodation for them even if discretion is required. They will find a housing solution for them where local authority or social housing is not in place. The units also reach prisons and hospitals. The staff go into prisons and hospitals prior to people being discharged in order to make sure that people have accommodation when they get out.

We are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to rent reviews and existing data. If landlords are lying on their returns to the PRTB then they are lying to the Department and Revenue. It is difficult for my Department to get a handle on the problem if the tenant is complicit. It is difficult for the Department to take action if the tenant and landlord are signing declarations on the Department's application forms stating a certain amount is paid.

It is very difficult for us to take action on that. In terms of the balance of where the Department fits and given that it has perhaps 30% of the rental market, we have a duty of care to the taxpayer to ensure we get best value for money. It has been shown that landlords follow the rental market we set. We must, therefore, ensure we get the best bang for our buck in setting the rent limits. We are also trying to ensure that we meet people's accommodation needs. In many cases, staff engage with tenants. To pick up on Deputy Ryan's point, we do not engage with landlords; our engagement is with tenants. Generally, a tenant comes to us when he or she has sourced the accommodation he or she wants and has negotiated the rent with the landlord. If someone comes to us who is having difficulty, in particular where he or she is in accommodation already from which he or she is trying to move, staff on the ground will support the person to get accommodation. We allow people time where that is required to move from one place to another.

I was asked about data sources. We have the PRTB data and we must go by what is declared. We also have local information. Our staff are based and live across the country and have a good handle on rent levels and that feeds back into our reviews. We deal with NGOs also who feed us the information they get on the ground. Regarding assistance to tenants, we must not forget the community information centres which are under the Department's remit. They provide advice and support to tenants also. Sometimes they assist with the completion of application forms, but also in dealing with landlords.

Deputy Nulty mentioned top-ups. We are aware from what people are telling us that it appears to be an issue. We cannot ensure that we have access to accommodation in all areas and that is similarly the case with local authorities. There is availability out there given that almost 50,000 households secured rent supplement accommodation. Despite what they have said about not wanting rent supplement tenants, landlords are engaging in this market. I accept that the long-term solution will be with local authorities under RAS or the housing assistance payment scheme. That is where the issue rightly fits. It was originally intended that the Department would provide emergency support, but that, unfortunately, grew over the years. On the six-month point, 54,000 of our 86,000 rent-supplement tenants have been in receipt of same for more than 18 months. Approximately 44,000 have been moved since 2005 to a RAS solution. We can look at six months, but to implement it will only increase the numbers local authorities are trying to deal with.

References were made to availability in Dublin, Fingal and Dún Laoghaire. We monitor that on a regular basis. The prices quoted on daft.ie are the asking price. It becomes clear that often the asking price is not what the tenant must pay. There can be some negotiation.