Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Deputy's analysis of an increase in rents in south County Dublin. The Department constantly checks all of the available information ranging from that on www.daft.ie to information we have available to us from organisations such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, as well as the information available to community welfare officers who work in the area.

I want to stress again that we are spending a great deal of money on rent allowance for what was meant to be a short-term scheme. While we will have this review carried out by early June, we know there are parts of the country in which rents are still falling. We have to be careful, in a scenario in which the Department of Social Protection is responsible for renting somewhat more than 36% of all private rental accommodation in Ireland, that we do not drive rents up, particularly for workers on low wages and those such as students who commonly rent. It is for this reason that, with regard to people in long-term rented accommodation, I have been involved with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in plans to move the rent allowance scheme from my Department to that Department. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has introduced proposals for a new housing allowance payment which will be paid by that Department.

I am sure the Deputy is aware of the current problem whereby, if a person on rent allowance gets a job, he or she risks losing all rent support. That is something we can only effectively change if we can move long-term renters to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and have a similar scheme to that applying to differential rent in a local authority house. If somebody gets a job, he or she can calculate that the rent will be, say, 15% to 20% of his or her income, and will know that he or she will not be charged a huge amount extra. It is a complex area and we are working to reform it.

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