Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy put her finger on it when she said it is important we do not drive up the rent. When we examined the rent limit in August, rents had fallen by 5% and the supply of rental accommodation had doubled. Given the number of tenants who come under this scheme, there is always a danger that our raising the limits would drive up rent. The fact that so many people benefit from it shows that it is in some way right. We will re-examine it at the beginning of next year. I do not want to be the driving force behind the market on this. One third of private sector tenants in the country are on rent supplement, so it is a very significant driver in the market. We hear anecdotal evidence of people who have built office blocks and want to convert them into accommodation suitable for rent supplement, but we do not want to ghettoise people on rent supplement. In the current market landlords are very glad to get tenants, particularly given how the supply has doubled.

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