Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

As I explained in the Dáil, we are making provision to ensure every landlord will have to provide a PPS number. I have been very anxious to achieve this since I entered the Department. Other issues would arise if we were to take the step of requiring the presentation of a tax clearance certificate. The Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, and I are examining the rent supplement scheme as a whole in this regard and I am not ruling out the proposal as part of a next phase. However, it was not possible to go as far as proposed as fast as desired. I have no objection to the suggestion in principle.

What occurs is that we give the details of all tenancies to the Revenue Commissioners. We will require the provision of a PPS number for every tenancy. I understand that, while we do not have all PPS numbers in the data matching exercises undertaken, there is a high level of compliance. We will obviously be able to secure a much greater level of compliance and this will involve much less work as we will have all of the numbers.

Sometimes there are misunderstandings about tax clearance. If a tax clearance certificate was required before the tenancy, it would never prove tax was paid. It would not prove tax clearance had any relevance to the payment of tax in respect of the tenancy and would not resolve the issue. However, I am open to considering the Senator's suggestion in the future. I am about to reform the supplementary welfare scheme in full and will certainly take the Senator's suggestion into account. It was not possible to accept it in this instance. I took the view that perfection was the enemy of doing anything and that requiring the provision of a PPS number would be a huge step in the right direction. However, I regard it as just one step.