Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

No. The community welfare officers have the discretion to determine what is in the best interest of the tenant. The regulations which are in existence since 1993 are being reviewed. Once that happens, my Department will review the guidelines for the community welfare officers which will guide them in regard to decisions they may want to take. Given that there are 63,000 recipients of the rent supplement scheme, very few notifications have come forward in regard to substandard accommodation.

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