Vol. 567 No. 5
440 Ms M. Wallace asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the circumstances whereby a foreign national who arrived here two and a half years ago and spent three months in direct provision and did not have an Irish born child received permission to leave direct provision and reside in a private dwelling with rental paid by the health board and income received from her Department. [14351/03]
Persons granted refugee status have access, on the same basis as Irish citizens, to accommodation of every tenure in the State including local authority housing. The allocation of local authority housing is a matter in the first instance for the appropriate local authority. Asylum seekers do not have access to local authority housing and their accommodation needs fall to be met in general under the Government's programme of dispersal and direct provision which is administered by the reception and integration agency which operates under the aegis of my Department.
The Minister for Social and Family Affairs is introducing regulations under the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2003 to prohibit the payment of a rent supplement to asylum seekers and persons not lawfully in the State. Prior to the introduction of these regulations asylum seekers could qualify for rent supplements on compelling medical or social grounds, which were determined by community welfare officers and source private rented accommodation. Details of rent supplement claims are available from the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
