Ms Niamh O'Donoghue:

I need to go back a further two years to complete the picture. The economic downturn, which began in 2008, caused huge problems for, and placed huge demands on, the social welfare system across all its schemes and services. That peaked in 2010 and 2011. Many of the schemes we provide are demand-led and, therefore, if somebody meets the eligibility criteria, he or she qualifies for payment. It is not a question of the scheme being budget capped. The person who meets the eligibility criteria will receive the payment involved. In 2010 and 2011, because of process difficulties the Department experienced across a wide range of primary scheme areas, there was increased recourse to supplementary welfare payments. That demand not alone translated into claims on our primary schemes but also to claims for BASI payments while people awaited a decision on their primary payment.

The big change over the last couple of years, particularly this year, is that, as we have got our act together in regard to claim processing within the Department, this means there are speedier decisions, so people who are entitled to be paid the primary payment are now receiving it more quickly. As a consequence, they do not have to make a claim for supplementary welfare payment to bridge a gap while that decision is being made. That is the kind of big change that has happened.

In regard to rent supplement, particularly over the last year there have been changes in the contributions people have to make to rent supplement, and that has generated savings for the Exchequer. However, it has meant there has been more responsibility on the individual to contribute to their housing need. There has also been a significant movement in the last 18 months of people from rent supplement into the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, which has reduced the numbers there. From about the middle of 2012 onwards, there has been a stabilisation and a reduction of in jobseeker claims, but as the numbers on those payments has reduced, their entitlement to claim rent supplement has also reduced. That is accounted for by a number of different factors, including the fact there are fewer people in receipt of jobseeker's payments. It could be that people who had previously migrated into Ireland to work have now migrated back home, and they are not relying on either getting a welfare payment or rent supplement here.

That is the general picture. As I said, one would need to look at this over a four-year period to see how it peaked and has now begun to stabilise.