Gay Mitchell (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 348: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if the rent subsidy paid to a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12 is correct; the way in which this is calculated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8802/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, SWA, which includes rent supplement, is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Neither I nor my Department have any function in relation to decisions on individual claims.

Under standard SWA rules, rent supplements are normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of SWA appropriate to their family circumstances, less a minimum contribution, currently €13, which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. Many recipients pay more than €13 because recipients are also required, subject to income disregards, to contribute any additional assessable means that they have over and above the appropriate basic SWA rate towards their accommodation costs.

The Dublin and mid-Leinster area of the Health Service Executive has advised that the person concerned was paid a proportionate amount of rent supplement for February because she was not in her accommodation unit for the full month. The person in question will receive a rent supplement of €344.20 per month from her next payment date. The details of calculation of her rent supplement will be forwarded separately to the Deputy.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 349: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if rent allowance and payment of a deposit will be approved in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny; and if payment on their doctors certificates for the period 2 December 2005 to 16 January 2006 will be expedited. [8874/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. Neither I nor my Department have any function in decisions on individual claims. The supplementary welfare allowance scheme provides for exceptional needs payments to assist with essential, once-off expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of his or her household income or other resources. The scheme also provides for the payment of a rent supplement. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.

The southern area of the executive has advised that the person concerned was in receipt of rent supplement but that this payment ceased when it came to light that the person concerned was no longer resident in the accommodation. The executive further advised that it has not received any subsequent application for assistance from the person concerned for new accommodation. If the person concerned wishes to apply for rent supplement or an exceptional needs payment in respect of a rent deposit then he should contact the community welfare officer at his local health centre.

The person concerned also had a claim to disability benefit from 8 December 2005 to 21 January 2006. One of the qualifying conditions for payment of disability benefit is that the claimant must have a minimum of 13 paid qualifying contributions in one of the following years: the governing contribution year, which was 2003 in the case of the person concerned; the two contribution years preceding the governing contribution year; or a subsequent contribution year. The records of the Department show that the person concerned has no qualifying paid contributions since the 1999 to 2000 year. Consequently, he was not qualified for disability benefit. However, he does qualify for the award of credited PRSI contributions which could help to qualify him for benefit in the future.