Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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361. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the way the maximum rent limits for each county for payment of rent supplement was decided; the person who decided the limits; the consultation that took place locally to verify that the limits are realistic and would not make it difficult for persons to source or remain in accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2648/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The purpose of rent supplement is to provide short-term 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 overall aim is to provide short-term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer. There are currently approximately 80,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014.

The implementation of revised maximum rent limits under the rent supplement scheme was approved by Government on 5 June 2013, following an extensive review of the private rental market undertaken by the Department. The revised rent limits came into effect on 17 June 2013 and will remain in place until 31 December 2014. The emphasis of the review was to ensure that value for money was achieved whilst, at the same time, ensuring that people on rent supplement are not priced out of the market for private rented accommodation.

During the rent limit review, the Department used information from rental tenancies registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) to analyse actual rental costs in each county across the country. The Department also used publicly available data sources including the Central Statistics Office rental indices, the Daft.ie Rental Report and websites, advertising rental properties to ascertain both the market trends and the current asking prices for one, two and three bedroom properties. Rent limits were set to ensure that approximately 35% of available supply of housing is available to rent supplement tenancies.

The Department also sought the views of a number of stakeholders to inform the review process, including Departmental staff with responsibility for the administration of the rent supplement scheme.

There have been increases in the maximum rent limits in Dublin and Galway while there have been some reductions across a number of rural counties reflecting the conditions in the rental markets in those counties. Separate to the county limits, higher rent limits have been provided for in North Kildare and Bray areas.

Officials in the Department will continue to monitor the impact of the revised rates ensuring that the accommodation needs of rent supplement recipients are met.