Under section 179 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993, a weekly supplement may be paid in respect of rent or mortgage interest to people in receipt of social welfare or health board payments.
The purpose of rent supplements is to assist the reasonable accommodation costs of eligible persons living in rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources, and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source.
Local authority tenants pay an income-related, differential rent in respect of their accommodation. Responsibility for making and amending differential rent schemes lies with the local authorities since August 1986. Guidelines issued by the Minister for the Environment at the time require local authorities to ensure that rent schemes adopted by them are based on certain broad principles.