Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the way the latest agreement between the Government and the EU-IMF affects the programme for Government commitment to amend the 30 hour rule for rent supplement which acts as an unemployment trap; and the position regarding the progress of her plans in relation to same. [10440/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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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. In recent years, a significant number of people have come to rely on rent supplement for extended periods, including people on local authority housing waiting lists. One of the measures introduced to address the issue of long-term rent supplementation is the rental accommodation scheme (RAS) which gives local authorities specific responsibility for meeting the long-term housing needs of people receiving rent supplement for eighteen months or more.

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 RAS, may return to full-time work, subject to a means test, without losing entitlement to their rent supplement payment.

The Programme for Government contained several commitments in relation to those who find themselves dependent on rent supplement with long term housing needs including the need to remove any remaining barriers to employment. The Department is committed to targeting social support to those on lower incomes, and ensuring that work pays for welfare recipients. However, in order to fully address these household's needs we have to reduce the reliance on rent supplement, with eligible recipients moving to accommodation provided by local authorities. I am currently in discussions with my colleagues in the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government with a view to achieving this commitment and returning rent supplement to its original intention as a short term income support payment. The latest Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and the EU and the IMF does not directly impact upon these commitments.