Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 77: To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to abolish the 30 hour rule in respect of rent supplement and his estimate of the cost of same. [40039/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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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. Rent supplement is not payable where a person or their spouse or partner is in full-time employment, that is for 30 hours or more a week. However, provision was made in 2007 whereby a person on rent supplement, who is accepted as eligible for accommodation under the rental accommodation scheme, may return to full-time work, subject to a means test, without losing entitlement to their rent supplement payment.

The 30-hour per week limit has been in place since 1977 when the SWA scheme came into operation. The use of 30 hours as the part-time limit for SWA is designed to be as advantageous as possible to individuals returning to the employment market without including those in full-time employment, thus reflecting the scheme's original purpose of a short-term income support payment. Support for those in full-time employment and who require long term housing support are provided by local authority housing initiatives which include the rental accommodation scheme and other social housing placement schemes.