Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 4 Dec 2002

Vol. 558 No. 5

Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.

Willie Penrose

Question:

94 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reasons for the recent capping of the rent allowance; if her attention has been drawn to the harsh impact which this will have on social welfare recipients in the private rented sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24695/02]

Eamon Ryan

Question:

105 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reasons a cap on rent allowances is being imposed by her Department. [24760/02]

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Coughlan)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 94 and 105 together.

Rent supplements paid under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme have always been subject to a cap as there has always been a limit on the amount of rent that an applicant for rent supplement may incur. Maximum rent limits are set by each health board for various household types as a basis for calculating the amount of rent supplement payable in individual cases.

The health boards reviewed these limits regularly, usually once a year, and increased the limits as required in response to conditions in the housing market in their functional areas. During 2002, this resulted in increases in the maximum rent limits ranging from 5% to 28%.

Data provided by the Central Statistics Office show that rent levels have been stable for some time. In fact, rents have been falling since last April and are now lower than they were one year ago. Given this background, there is no justification for landlords to increase the levels of rents they charge. Accordingly, there is no need for health boards to set higher levels of maximum rents for the purposes of the SWA rent supplement scheme.

In the circumstances, I have decided to maintain the maximum rent levels set by the health boards at their current levels until the end of December 2003. I do not accept that this will have a harsh impact on social welfare recipients in the private rented sector. On the contrary, setting higher maximum rent limits than are justified by the open market would distort the rental market, leading to a general rise in rent levels that would disadvantage people on low incomes.

Michael Ring

Question:

95 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the increase in maximum rate payable to a single person receiving unemployment benefit on 1 July for each of the years from 1997 to date. [24727/02]

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Mary Coughlan)

The requested information is set out in the following table.

Increase in the maximum rate of unemployment benefit payable to a single person on 1 July each year from 1997 to 2002.

Year	Effective From	WeeklyIncrease	Total Weekly Rate
		€	€
1997	05/06/97	3.81	85.71
1998	28/05/98	3.81	89.52
1999	27/05/99	3.81	93.33
2000	27/04/00	5.08	98.40
2001	29/03/01	10.1	108.56
2002	27/12/01	10.24	118.80