Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 343: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the conditions which apply in respect of rent allowance in the case where a person resides with a brother or sister; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5666/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which includes rent supplement, is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

The purpose of the 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.

A person is not excluded from rent supplement where the accommodation is owned by a family member, provided a bona fide tenancy exists, the person has a housing need and the rent payable is within prescribed limits. Each application for rent supplement is decided by a community welfare officer on the basis of its own merits and in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions governing the scheme.

The department does not have any function in relation to decisions on individual claims.