Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

At the end of the day, the fairest thing was to give people almost nine months notice that the Christmas bonus will not be paid in December. We are aware this will be difficult for people but the alternative of cutting all weekly payments would be much worse. It was not an easy decision and it was not a choice any of us made lightly, but we felt it was the fairest option. The Government indicated in all of its discussions that were there to be a windfall, this would be the first payment we would return to people. We cannot at this stage say this will happen at the end of the year and I do not wish to raise false expectations for people. The usual provision in the Estimate has been removed for this year. Usually, 70% of the payments is provided for in the Estimate and this will result in savings of €156 million in 2009.

The next area in which changes will be being made is in the rent supplement scheme. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to deal with emergencies and short-term needs that arise when a person suffers a change in circumstances, for example, when a tenant becomes unemployed and can no longer afford his or her rent. Approximately 83,000 people are in receipt of rent supplement, an increase of 39% since the end of December 2007.

The supplementary budget provides for a net increase of €27 million in rent supplement to €520 million. This comprises an increase of €77 million for additional claims arising from the increase in the live register and a saving of €48 million in 2009 as a result of the following measures. Rent supplement will be restricted to individuals who have been existing tenants for six months. Individuals who have not been tenants for six months or who are forming new households must have been placed on a local authority housing list following a full housing assessment before they are eligible for a rent supplement payment. These measures will apply to all new applicants for rent supplement.

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