Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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77. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she or her Department officials are concerned regarding the announcement made by Ulster Bank on 27 April 2015 regarding persons in long-term mortgage arrears; if she has made an assessment regarding the impact this will have on her Department's budget; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17386/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I presume that the Deputy is referring to the recent announcement made by Ulster Bank whereby if a home is sold and the borrower qualifies for social housing, the Bank will not chase them for the residual debt.

The rent supplement scheme administered by this Department provides 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. A person may qualify for rent supplement where an assessment of housing need has been carried out and the person is deemed by a housing authority to be eligible for and in need of social housing support. The housing need criteria, as prescribed in the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, include a household that has a mortgage that is deemed to be unsustainable under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process. In addition to the housing need requirement there are a number of other conditions that a person must satisfy in order to be eligible for rent supplement. I can assure the Deputy that the Government will continue to ensure that the necessary funding for the scheme is in place.

It should be noted that where the new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is in operation, administered by the housing authorities, customers requiring social housing support would be accommodated under HAP rather than rent supplement. HAP is currently being administered in seven local authority areas and will be rolled out to further local authority areas during the year.