Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

That amount of €450 a month is €110 a week. The Senator's constituent in Galway gets €188 a week, plus fuel allowance, plus another €5,000 a year. The difficulty in that respect is how that person will take up employment because he or she has to get a job that will pay more than the total package. There is an important opportunity in this debate to bring this point home. Those on all sides of this House must be thoughtful about the way we get best value from the expenditure of taxpayers' money.

Social housing is provided through a number of delivery mechanisms by housing authorities or through the voluntary and co-operative housing sector by approved housing bodies. More than €333.7 million has been provided in 2012 for the social housing capital budget. Again, that is a significant commitment in the context of our current economic position.

Rent supplement is administered at local level by former community welfare officers who came into the Department of Social Protection last October. They are now full departmental officials. Those officials provide a great deal of support and advice to customers in addressing their accommodation and other needs.

Budget 2012 provided for a number of changes to the rent supplement scheme including a review of the maximum rent limits which were set after a detailed analysis of the most up to date market data available. That data and the survey are available on the Department's website and incorporate all the data from all the different locations in the country and is urban, rural and country based.Senator Ó Clochartaigh is shaking his head, but it is acknowledged to be a very comprehensive survey and picture of rents. The emphasis of the rent limit review was to ensure that maximum value for money for tenants and the taxpayer was achieved while at the same time ensuring that people in receipt of rent supplement are not priced out of the market for good quality private rented accommodation. It is expected that €22 million in savings will accrue to the Exchequer during 2012 as a result of this measure.

Another important point I would emphasise is that the Department of Social Protection funds approximately 40% of the private rented sector in Ireland. That means the Department is the biggest player in establishing rent. I ask Senator Ó Clochtaraigh and Sinn Féin who else rents in this country. Who are the 60%? For the most part, they are workers, often on quite low incomes because they cannot afford to buy a house and they are often students whose parents are funding rent for them while they are at college. Is Sinn Féin telling us that the Department of Social Protection should use a 40% position in the market, as is implied in the Sinn Féin motion, to drive rents up such that people who are in low income jobs would end up paying higher rents?