Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

The directive commenced in 2004 and, on the basis of legal advice, we are giving it statutory effect. The Bill, including the section in question, has been cleared legally. This does not stop anybody challenging legislation in the courts. The Government operates according to the best legal advice available to it and it is satisfied that section 25 and the other relevant sections are legally sound.

Section 25 provides that the payment of rent supplement may be refused, for the purpose of providing for greater social integration, in respect of accommodation situated in an area notified to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government as an area of regeneration. Approximately €1 billion has been invested in the past ten years in programmes to improve certain local authority estates and in delivering homes and sustaining communities. The recent statement on housing policy by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government provides for a planned and concerted increase in investment in social housing stock over the coming years. There has therefore been substantial investment in regeneration projects to tackle long-standing problems in communities that have experienced multiple disadvantages. The measures in the Bill support the State's significant investment in areas of regeneration in addition to trying to meet the objective of creating sustainable communities.

I do not know if Senator Terry had the opportunity to hear the contribution of the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Noel Ahern, on this legislation. He took the view that the provision is about assisting local authorities to achieve a social mix. He stated we built vast local authority housing estates and high-rise developments in the past without making any attempt to achieve a sustainable mix. He claimed regeneration projects are to provide a mixture of private, social, affordable and voluntary housing and are quite the opposite of social engineering. Rather, they are to give some of the areas in question a chance to breathe and a fresh start.

The Minister of State also said that, "In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s we built vast local authority housing estates and high-rise developments of between five and 15 storeys". He argued that filling such private developments solely with recipients of rent supplement would not give the areas in which they are situated a chance to breathe and develop a sustainable future.

The measures provided do not comprise a blanket refusal of rent supplement in the area of regeneration. We made specific provision in the Bill to ensure that those already residing in areas of regeneration and in receipt of rent supplement may continue to receive payment. Those already residing in such areas in private rental accommodation, and who may have recourse to rent supplement in the future, will not have their entitlement restricted. I do not envisage the restrictions lasting forever; it is a matter of giving the regeneration areas time to grow and develop and to provide breathing space, as stated by the Minister of State. My Department will keep in close contact with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when implementing section 25 and we will keep the relevant matters under close and constant review.

The provision is a means of not repeating automatically some of the mistakes made in the past. While there are risks associated with the policy adopted, it is a better policy than that which obtained heretofore and it can be kept under constant review to observe how it is working. It is as much in the interest of those receiving rent supplement as those who are not, and it is arguably very much in the interest of allowing areas to have a new beginning.