Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 5, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following:

1. The Minister shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas, a report on the exclusion of social welfare recipients from eligibility for rent supplement in areas designated for urban regeneration.

We discussed this provision on Second Stage. Deputy Shortall, who represents the Ballymun area, made a substantial contribution on Committee Stage and gave the benefit of her experience of its operation and the work being done. The Minister is trying to introduce into legislation a change to something that is apparently working but fell foul of the Attorney General's advice. Deputy Shortall requested the Minister to introduce a Report Stage amendment to restore the original flexibility. The provision has brought adverse comment from a significant body of people. Some people see it as a form of social engineering. The Minister has now provided that people moving from social welfare to employment may avail of a reduced rate of rent supplement. However, for the most part this provision will affect social welfare recipients whose eligibility will be removed as they live in areas designated for urban regeneration, mainly in Ballymun, but it may also include some areas in Cork.

The Minister's argument is that those areas have already received substantial tax designation leading to their regeneration and that therefore some people availing of rent supplement, which now amounts to €400 million annually, would be gaining on the double. However, people should be entitled to live where they want to live. Some people would like to improve themselves and move into those areas. It is important that they have the opportunity to do so. While the Minister has made a strong argument, I have deep concerns over the matter. What would happen to somebody living outside the area with a brother or other family member living in the area subject to urban regeneration? Why can they not live in the area? Very often family members like to live near each other. Having members of families, particularly from large families, living in close proximity allows them to help each other out and is beneficial in addressing the various costs they must incur. I would not like this provision to become embedded in legislation. I understand various groups have contacted the Minister in this regard and in the past 48 hours I was contacted by a person in Cork who was deeply disturbed by this trend and hoped it would not be a harbinger of further legislative moves to impose a form of class or social engineering, to which we would not subscribe.

I know that Deputy Shortall asked the Minister to introduce an amendment to allow flexibility in certain situations that might arise. She backed up what she said with comprehensive detail. However, the Minister appears to have no proposals for dealing with the matter. I ask him to withdraw the provision until he has had an opportunity to reconsider it. I understand the provision may have originated in another Department and the Minister inserted it to give it a legislative basis. Be that as it may, it causes us considerable concern and should be revisited.

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