Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 454: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will investigate the situation of a cap on the issuing of the rent supplement imposed by the Ballymun Health Service Executive office, Dublin, on housing within its ambit that is in the Finglas area that otherwise fulfils the requirements for the supplement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22373/09]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 463: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties being faced by people renting in Ballymun, Dublin and homeowners needing to rent out their properties, due to the directive issued that rent supplement will not be paid in the area; if, in view of the exceptional economic circumstances she will reverse this directive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22275/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 454 and 463 together.

Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. 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 Government decided in 1997 to approve the redevelopment of Ballymun and a regeneration programme commenced in 1998. The provision of rent supplement in the Ballymun designated area was identified by housing authorities as a risk to the tenure diversity objective of the project which is to achieve a more balanced tenure mix by providing additional private market housing. It is envisaged that by the end of the regeneration project the tenure balance will be around 44% public and 56% private compared to the 80% public at the start of the project. In response to the concerns about achieving a tenure balance mix, Section 25 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007 provided that a payment of rent supplement can be refused in respect of accommodation which is situated in an area notified to the Minister for Social and Family Affairs by the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government, as being an area of regeneration.

The Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government advised in 2008 that, on the advice of Dublin City Council, he had decided that the Ballymun area merited designation as an area of regeneration for the purposes of Section 25 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007. Accordingly, with effect from 27 November 2008, rent supplement is not paid in respect of accommodation situated in the Ballymun regeneration area, as outlined by the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The measures provided for in Section 25 are not a blanket refusal of rent supplement in areas of regeneration. Specific provision is made to ensure that:

• people already residing in such areas and in receipt of rent supplement may continue to receive payment; and

• people already residing in such areas in private rental accommodation and who may have recourse to rent supplement in the future would not have their entitlement restricted.

It is not intended that the Section 25 provisions will be open-ended and they will be reviewed jointly by the Department and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when the Ballymun regeneration is completed in 2012 or earlier, if appropriate.

The area designated as being in the Ballymun regeneration project includes the neighbourhoods of Coultry and Shangan, Dublin 9 and the neighbourhoods of Poppintree, Balcurris and Silloge/Sandyhill, Dublin 11. It reflects the area within Dublin City Council where Ballymun Regeneration Ltd. is actively engaged in the regeneration programme. Claims for rent supplement from people residing in the Finglas area are processed in the normal way by the community welfare service in Finglas.