Ms Helen Faughnan:

I thank Deputy Brendan Ryan. We will examine the transcript from Threshold and the various questions and answer them.

I have noted the comments made by various Deputies on the apparent misalignment of the experiences of constituents in the payment of deposits, etc. We will examine that issue.

With regard to flooding, the humanitarian assistance scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection is meeting people's immediate needs. The first stage is the provision of emergency income support. Staff on the ground are generally providing money for essential clothing, personal items, to hire dehumidifiers, etc. Generally, the payments are between €100 and €500.

Stages 2 and 3 are when it gets into the more formal assessment in relation to, say, the replacement of white goods or furniture and other essential household items. Stage 3 involves the works that are required when the houses have dried out, such as plastering, drylining, relaying of floors, etc. We are still in that process with a lot of households around the country. To date, 540 households have been assisted and payments totalling €1.18 million have been made. The Department has a legal right whereby when flooding happens, we do not have to go to the Government to seek approval. We have permission to spend up to €10 million as required in relation to all of these various needs. Of course, there are a lot of other issues in relation to flood barriers, etc., that are the responsibility of the OPW and local authorities. We might engage if there are issues around the humanitarian aid scheme from Deputies' first-hand experience. While we can try to be a bit better prepared for the next time, I am satisfied that we have the feet on the ground. Our staff are engaging with the local authorities and emergency services, including gardaí and fire personnel, in this space.

Deputy Durkan asked about the various elements. I agree social welfare and income supports should never have been in this whole housing support because what in effect happened was that we had nearly 90,000 people in receipt of rent supplement. Local authorities did not regard them as being their responsibility or on their books or consider that they had to try to find a housing solution for them. This is why the rental accommodation scheme and HAP are very important initiatives in this regard. To date, exceptional needs payments, RAS and HAP support 100,000 people at a cost of approximately €450 million per year, which is a significant investment. Expenditure on exceptional needs payments has been decreasing over the years but we inherited a mechanism where staff were operating who had been in eight different health board areas. Depending on the nature of instructions, etc., there were huge inconsistencies. What we tried to bring forward was a level of consistency across the country so that if somebody applies for an exceptional needs payment in Buncrana, New Ross or Kildare, he or she can generally be provided with the same level of service. A lot of payments were being made which were not exceptional or unforeseen and we are trying to bring a level of consistency to those. For example, payments seem to have stabilised at or around €30 million per annum but it is a demand-led scheme and if demand increases for whatever reason, we will ensure the proper supports are provided. The appeals mechanism is generally at local level. If a community welfare officer has made a decision and a person is not happy with it, the area manager, who is someone like Mr. O'Rourke or Ms Tighe, will review, in the first instance, the payments made. It will always be somebody different from the original person who made the decision who will review it.

The form is probably one of our more complicated ones. I mentioned the third party intervention with the landlords. One of the major supports and efficiencies which have been gained with the establishment of our Intreo centres is that community welfare service staff have access to our central IT system which is called BOMi. The amount of data they now have available to them in terms of clients' means has assisted so that the processing time for the primary social welfare payments is down from about three weeks to about three days. The data the staff have available to them assists them. We are not there yet in terms of some of the SWA schemes but that is our next stage in terms of trying to improve the efficiencies in the processing of those particular claims.

There are various proposals in terms of our clients who are competing. It is a challenge. We will consider those issues and come back with a note to the committee.