Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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328. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the progress to date in the determination of eligibility for HAP in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18137/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a social housing support under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014. In order to be eligible for HAP support, a household must first qualify for social housing support through the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended.

Regulation 12 of the 2011 Regulations prescribes the timescales for the processing of applications by local authorities. Once a household is deemed eligible for social housing support, it is a matter for the local authority to examine the suite of social housing supports available, including the HAP scheme, to determine the most appropriate form of social housing support for that household in the administrative area of that local authority.  

Therefore it is entirely a matter for the relevant local authority to process individual applications in accordance with the statutory requirements. As Minister, I am precluded from involvement in individual cases.