Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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128. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on the legality of landlords refusing to accept tenants who are dependent on rent allowance payments. [44307/14]

Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, 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. There are currently approximately 72,500 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €344 million for 2014.

Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant. Rent supplement is specifically for the benefit of tenants to assist them with their accommodation needs. The tenant’s engagement with the Department usually takes place after the tenant has reached an agreement with the landlord. The fact that approximately 72,500 people are currently in receipt of rent supplement shows that a significant number of landlords are accommodating applicants of the scheme.

It is clearly my preference that a person in receipt of rent supplement should not be refused accommodation due to the fact that they are receiving support from the State. Officials in the Department are engaging with those in the Department of Justice and Equality in regard to this matter.

It is open to any person who has been refused a private tenancy and who feels discriminated against on the basis of his or her gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Travelling community to refer a discrimination complaint to the Equality Tribunal under the Equal Status Acts.