Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I refer to a reply to a previous parliamentary question on the same issue so I can give the Deputy accurate information. In response to a question to the Minister for Finance on the rent credit, the reply said:

The intention is that, in order for a person to be in a position to claim the credit in a year:

- the rent paid must be in respect of the person’s principal private residence,

- the person living in the rented property themselves, or their spouse/civil partner, must have paid the rent and sufficient tax to avail of the credit,

- the tenancy must be registered with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) but only where this is already a legal requirement.

Tenants in the rent-a-room scheme and in student accommodation will also be able to claim the tax credit, subject to compliance with bullet points one and two above.

It does not say bullet point No. 3. My understanding of this has always been that a student in student accommodation could claim it and the student in the rent-a-room scheme could claim it, and that any student in another accommodation would have to be registered with the RTB. That is how I read the parliamentary question.

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