Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 318: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason income from the jobseeker's allowance payment is deducted in its entirety for rent subsidy payments for a person (details supplied) and is of no financial benefit to the applicant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3043/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare service of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme.

Rent supplement is normally calculated to ensure that a person, after the payment of rent, has an income equal to the rate of supplementary welfare allowance appropriate to their family circumstances less a minimum contribution of €18, which recipients are required to pay from their own resources. Many recipients pay more than €18 because they are also required, subject to certain income disregards, to contribute any additional assessable means that they have, over and above the appropriate basic supplementary welfare allowance rate, towards their accommodation costs.

Social welfare legislation provides that all income in cash is assessable for supplementary welfare allowance purposes. This includes income from most social welfare payments including jobseeker's Benefit. Some specific disregards of income are provided for in the legislation in respect of the means test for the rent supplement scheme to include pensioners aged over 65 years, carers, recipients of child benefit, guardian's payment, respite care grant and those engaged in rehabilitative employment. The assessment of means for rent supplement purposes also provides for a gradual withdrawal of payment as hours of employment or earnings increase.

The Executive has advised that the person concerned had been in receipt of rent supplement taking account of income from jobseeker's benefit and maintenance payments. She was subsequently awarded one-parent family payment and her entitlement to jobseeker's benefit was reduced to half rate. Her entitlement to rent supplement was recalculated to take account of the additional income to the household. As a result, she is entitled to a reduced rate of rent supplement. Arrangements have been made to issue rent supplement to the person concerned at the reduced rate. It is open to the person concerned to appeal against this decision to the HSE Appeals Office if she is dissatisfied with the decision.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on a matter (details supplied). [3054/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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A special Christmas Bonus payment was first introduced in December, 1980, for social welfare pensioners and people who depend solely on their social welfare payments for income support. There have been a number of developments in this scheme since its inception, including changes in the level of the bonus payment, the introduction of a minimum payment and the extension of the categories of eligible claimants.

The focus of the bonus has always been on persons who rely on the social welfare system for financial support over the long term. The issue of payment of a Christmas Bonus in 2009 will, in due course, be examined in the context of the prevailing budgetary conditions.