Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I responded to the Deputy on the previous occasion. I reiterate the 15% deduction is the total deduction and includes any social welfare overpayments. I clarified this previously.

Deputy Boyd Barrett gave a very good illustration of why deduction at source is a good idea. Last week he presented a case where a man was not paying rent but the rest of his family thought he was. The family ended up in huge arrears. This will not happen to a family with deduction at source. The intention is to protect tenants from going into very large arrears. It seems to be a sensible provision.

It is standard practice in the Department of Social Protection that no more than 15% of income is taken for any purpose, whether it be overpayments or deduction for rent arrears. Whatever rent is owed will be deducted, but we are specifically discussing arrears, which cannot go to more than 15% of the payment.

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