Mr. John McCarthy:

The policy decision taken by the Department of Social Protection - this was discussed a few weeks ago with my counterpart in that Department - has been not to change the rent supplement cap levels. I think my counterpart indicated that they had arrangements in place to use discretion where a tenancy was coming under threat because of an increase in rent that would pose a problem in terms of rent supplement rates.

In fact, that discretion was exercised in over 2,000 cases in which the rent supplement cap was likely to become a problem. In the first place, any tenant who finds himself or herself in a situation where the rent is to be increased and the rent supplement cap is going to be a problem should approach the Department of Social Protection because there is this flexibility on a case by case basis. While there are no guarantees, the discretion has been exercised in more than 2,000 cases. From everybody's point of view, maintaining a family in their home rather than finding them totally unsuitable hotel accommodation is entirely logical.