Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The accommodation needs of victims of domestic violence are met through a joined-up service delivery model provided by Tusla with the close involvement of the various housing authorities nationwide.

Access to Rent Supplement can be provided on referral by Tusla or by prescribed Tusla-funded service providers. This provides victims of domestic violence with a fast track approval and screening process with a simplified means test to get immediate access to rent supplement so that they are not prevented from leaving their home because of financial concerns.

The standard rent supplement means test does not apply to these applicants for an initial three month period. After three months, a further three month extension may be provided, subject to the usual rent supplement means assessment.

After six months, if the tenant has a long-term housing need, they can apply to their local housing authority for social housing supports and, if eligible, will be able to access the Housing Assistance Payment, a social housing support provided by Local Authorities.

Access to rent supplement is additional and complementary to the range of other supports already in place for victims of domestic violence.

In the period since August 2020, 293 victims of domestic violence have been supported with rent supplement under the protocol. There are 17 victims of domestic violence currently being supported under the Protocol, with a further 36 victims of domestic violence being supported on rent supplement subject to the standard rent supplement means assessment and eligibility criteria, following the initial period of support under the protocol.

Table 1 shows the total number accessing rent supplement support under the domestic violence protocol from August 2020 to date in 2023 by year.

Table 1 - The total number accessing rent supplement support under the domestic violence protocol from August 2020 to date in 2023 by year.

Year	Total Number of Recipients
2020	51
2021	127
2022	93
2023	22
Total	293

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Social Protection arranges for the provision of translation and interpretation services at the request of customers and in cases where it is apparent that the customer’s interaction with the Department can be improved by having access to such services. The commitment to provide translation and interpretations services is published on my Department’s website and in its Customer Charter.

When accessing translation services, sensitive information pertaining to customers' personal circumstances is not submitted or retained by my Department, therefore the annual monetary amount spent on translation services specifically for customers experiencing domestic violence is not available.

I can confirm that in 2022, my Department provided almost 5,000 document translations and over 9,400 multi-language interpretations services to our customers. The current budget allocation for 2023 for the provision of these services in my Department is €2 million, though this is likely to be surpassed given continued demand for Ukrainian translation and interpretation services.