Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The complexity of that question is probably better addressed to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. What is important from the point of view of the Department of Social Protection is that one of the biggest poverty unemployment traps arises when somebody on rent supplement is offered employment and loses the whole of the rent supplement whereas if they are on the RAS or move to the HAP they will be provided with accommodation via the local authority and will be on a differential rent scheme. If they are offered a job they will be able to calculate according to their family circumstance what the likely increase in the rent will be, just as if they were in a traditional local authority programme. That is the enormous advantage of this kind of scheme to Irish society and to me as Minister for Social Protection because it removes one of the unemployment traps.

The local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government have committed us to beginning several pilots. I hope to see that as soon as possible but certainly no later than the start of the new year. I do not want to underestimate how challenging it is to bring in this new system. People who have served on local authorities and been involved in the complexity of housing cases will understand that it involves a large IT commitment for the local authorities. Returning to Deputy O'Dea's point, the provision of additional social housing is critically important to deal with the difficulties of the people he has instanced looking for housing.

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