Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 224: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the Government will leave most of the social welfare contract with An Post and desist from encouraging persons who are social welfare recipients to utilise the banks for the deposit of their entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14665/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department currently issues approximately 1.1 million weekly payments of which 58% are paid through An Post. My Department's policy is to ensure that a range of payment options is available to customers and that the service is continually improved by providing access to the wide range of payment options and new services and facilities now available.

Where possible, my Department provides a payment option which best suits the needs of the customers. There is no compulsion involved and there are no plans to force customers to move to a payment method that does not suit them. The increased use of electronic systems and card based technologies opens up possibilities for improved service and greater efficiency in payment delivery generally in the future. I recently met with my colleague, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, who is the Minister responsible for An Post, to discuss these possibilities and their future role in payment delivery in post offices.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 225: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his plans to monitor the cost of rented accommodation in each area in which his Department awards rent subsidy to ensure that applicants are in a position to obtain decent accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14685/05]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Rent supplements are provided through the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. My Department is in regular contact with the community welfare staff of the executive regarding the various elements of the scheme. In the course of these ongoing contacts, the upper limitation on rent levels supported under the rent supplement scheme — as prescribed in SI No. 727 of 2003 — has not emerged as having any detrimental impact on the ability of eligible tenants generally to secure suitable rented accommodation to meet their needs.

My Department is reviewing the current levels of rent limits in order in determine what limits should apply from July 2005 when the current statutory limits expire. The review is taking account of prevailing rent levels in the private rental sector generally, based on indices from the Central Statistics Office, together with detailed input and guidance from the Health Service Executive on the market situation according to patterns of rent supplement applications within each of its operational areas. This will ensure that the new rent limits reflect realistic market conditions throughout the country, to continue to enable eligible tenants to secure and retain suitable rented accommodation to meet their needs.