Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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262. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to assist persons who cannot pay their rents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26603/14]

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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277. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current rent supplement maximum limits per geographic area; if available, the percentage of the average rental charged this supplement covers in each area; if there are any plans to review the amounts payable in areas such as Dublin, in view of the increase in rents in this region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26797/14]

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent)
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295. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding rent supplement payments for families (details supplied) as rent levels in parts of County Wicklow are on par with Dublin without payments reflecting the true cost rental accommodation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27137/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 262, 277 and 295 together.

The Government has provided over €344 million for the rent supplement scheme in 2014, the purpose of which is to provide short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources. There are currently approximately 76,000 rent supplement recipients. All prospective tenants, including those seeking to access rent supplement, particularly in urban areas, are now finding it increasingly difficult to secure appropriate accommodation due to the reduced availability of rental properties.

In view of these supply difficulties, the Dublin Region Homeless Executive in conjunction with the Dublin local authorities and voluntary organisations have agreed a protocol with the Department so that families at risk of losing existing private rented accommodation can have more timely and appropriate interventions made on their behalf. While there are no plans to extend this arrangement to other local authority areas at this time, I can assure the Deputies that officers administering rent supplement throughout the country have considerable experience in dealing with customers and make every effort to ensure that the accommodation needs of families are met. Staff in the Department’s Community Welfare Service have discretionary powers to award a supplement for rental purposes in exceptional cases where it appears that the circumstances of the case so warrant, for example, when dealing with applicants who are homeless or who are at risk of losing their tenancy. Such cases are examined on a case by case basis having regard to the situation presented.

The current maximum monthly rent limits are provided in the tabular statement. The percentage of the average rent charged that is covered by rent supplement is not available.

A new rent limit review has commenced within the Department and will feed into the budgetary process. This review will involve a comprehensive analysis of information from a range of sources including rental tenancies registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), the Central Statistics Office rental indices and websites advertising rental properties. The Department is also seeking the views from a number of stakeholders in this area including the local staff administering the scheme, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the Private Residential Tenancies Board and non-Government organisations such as Threshold, Focus Ireland and the Society of St Vincent de Paul.

Maximum Monthly Rent Levels from 17 June 2013 to 31 December 2014