Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 29: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the action she is taking to retrieve the €7 million that is lost each year by the non-retrieval of rent supplement deposits from landlords. [16984/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive, an exceptional needs payment (ENP) may be made to help meet an essential once-off cost, such as a payment of a rent deposit, which the applicant is unable to meet out of his/her own resources.

There is no automatic entitlement to this payment and each application is determined by the Executive based on the particular circumstances of the case, taking account of the nature and extent of the need. Such payments are confined to occurrences which the Executive considers to be unexpected, unforeseen or exceptional.

Over €7m was paid in rent deposits in 2008. In general, such payments are made to the tenant and only paid occasionally to the landlord where the tenant requests that the payment be made direct to the landlord.

If the landlord or tenant terminates the tenancy the tenant can use the returned deposit to secure a new tenancy. If a tenant has a legitimate grievance in relation to the refund of a rent deposit which they have paid to their landlord, they may apply to the Private Residential Tenancies Board to have the dispute resolved through the board's dispute resolution process.

Every effort is made to ensure that payment of rent deposit is only made once in an individual case by checking computer systems to identify if any previous deposit had been paid. In general multiple rent deposits are not paid to the same person. In these circumstances, there is no evidence to indicate that €7m was lost in rent deposits in 2008.

Community welfare officers have discretion to make a repeat payment of rent deposit in instances of potential homelessness.