Ms Ann-Marie O'Reilly:

We have spent some time looking at how a tax relief for renters could be introduced in a targeted fashion, but where something is proposed to be delivered via the tax system, it can be difficult to do that. Approximately one fifth of private renters are in receipt of HAP, and while there may be challenges and difficulties with that payment, it offers some form of relief and it is likely that many people in receipt of it may not be able to avail of a tax relief, which would leave only people earning more than a certain sum. I do not see a way in which the tax system could have a cut-off point, whereby someone earning above a certain amount would not be eligible for it. There may be people within the Department of Finance who could figure out a way of doing that, but what we propose is a general tax relief.

As regards cost, it would depend on whether there is a cap on the relief. At present, with medical expenses, for example, the relief is 20% and there is no cap on that, as far as I am aware. I would be delighted if the same were brought in for private renters but I do not envision that being the case. If, on average, €1,000 were refunded through a tax relief to private renters, it would cost approximately €220 million, assuming those HAP households were removed from the equation.

As for administering the rent arrears fund, we envisage that operating via the likes of the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, MABS. At present, if someone in any kind of arrears approaches MABS, it will assess what money is coming in and going out. Such assessments are done through the mortgage arrears resolution process, MARP, for people in mortgage arrears and then at the end, MABS will say how much the person can afford to ensure he or she will have enough left at the end of the day to meet his or her needs. If it is the case the person cannot afford to start paying back the arrears in a fashion that is timely enough for the landlord, we propose MABS could then tell the person that he or she could avail of this rent arrears fund, get a long-term loan, perhaps at 0%, which was a possibility even six or eight months ago, or even a low-interest loan to allow the person to pay back those arrears over a longer period and stay in the home, while the landlord would not be out of pocket.

On increasing the HAP rates, we have referred to that in our pre-budget submission. The ESRI has recommended the rates be increased to ensure a certain proportion of properties in a local area are available for HAP tenants, which would have to be done on a local authority basis, similarly to how the rent supplement is reviewed every year.

With the homelessness prevention budget, we are looking specifically at measures that would target people who are at risk, and a lot of people do not necessarily identify themselves as being at risk in some way. These kinds of measures would come in at the very early stages to prevent people from entering homelessness but there is no reason that could not be extended, as the Senator suggested, to leasing and so on.