Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this very important matter and I apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty. The person concerned was in receipt of jobseeker's allowance from August 2015 to January 2017 and of rent supplement from May 2015 to January 2017. In January 2017, a review of the jobseeker's allowance claim was instigated on foot of information received by the Department that the person concerned was not residing at the property declared to it. In line with relevant guidelines, this resulted in the suspension of the rent claim. An inspector from the Department met the person concerned who asserted residence at the address. The person could not explain why another resident at the property would have stated otherwise. At the meeting with the inspector, the person confirmed being in receipt of income from self-employment as well as income from part-time employment. Given the level of income declared from the self-employment, together with the other declared income, the means assessment completed in this instance showed that the person concerned had means in excess of the statutory limit for jobseeker's allowance in the circumstances. This means assessment is also used to inform the calculation of rent supplement.

Following this initial meeting, the Department engaged extensively with the person concerned, directly and through Deputy Durkan, to progress the case. These engagements included further meetings with the inspectorate team, correspondence with both the person concerned and Deputy Durkan's office and, most recently, a meeting with the relevant divisional manager. At all times, the Department's focus was on clarifying and verifying the information provided by the person concerned to allow a payment to issue. As the Deputy is aware, having himself attended, a further attempt was made at the most recent meeting organised between the person concerned and officials from the Department to clarify inconsistencies in the information the person concerned had previously submitted. The Department is not satisfied that the person's means have been fully disclosed and, on that basis, the payment was stopped. The decision to stop the payment has been appealed to the social welfare appeals office. I have been advised by the office that an appeals officer has examined the appeal submissions and decided an oral hearing is the most appropriate way to deal with the case. The person concerned will be advised of the details of the oral hearing as soon as arrangements for it can been made.

It is a legal requirement that all tenancies be registered with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. While the RTB is precluded from dealing with any dispute relating to a tenancy that might be referred to it by a landlord until such time as a tenancy has been entered onto the RTB's register of tenancies, that does not preclude a tenant from referring matters to the board. Under the current legislation, a landlord seeking to terminate a tenancy in the case of rent arrears must first issue a 14-day warning notice notifying the tenant of the arrears. If the situation is not resolved, he or she may then issue a 28-day notice of termination.

The Deputy will understand that the Department cannot commit to making payments to customers where it has been decided that means have not been disclosed. The same consideration in respect of means also applies to supplementary welfare allowance payments.

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