Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 October 2004
129 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if he has received reports or observations from the community welfare service concerning the operation of SI 728 of 2003 regarding rent supplement. [23393/04]
View answer150 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs his views on a report, commissioned by the Dublin Citizens Information Service and the homelessness agency CentreCare, which says that new rules intended to reform the rent supplement scheme are creating crises through new eligibility requirements. [23415/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 129 and 150 together.
The statutory instrument referred to gave effect to certain changes which were introduced in the rent supplement scheme in January 2004. Regular meetings are held between my Department and the health boards at which the operation of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme is discussed. Specific discussions were held with representative groups of superintendent community welfare officers on the implementation of the rent supplement provisions.
A working group was established under the Sustaining Progress agreement to facilitate engagement with the social partners on monitoring the impact of the changes to the scheme. The working group, which was chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, included representatives from the ICTU and the community and voluntary pillar as well as my Department and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. As part of its deliberations, the group met a number of community welfare officers.
The working group examined 498 randomly selected rent supplement applications which were refused since the measures came into effect in January 2004 and found that only 11% of the refusals were because of the new measures. Many of these would have been refused on other grounds in any event. The group concluded that the new measures were not having any significant adverse impacts having regard to the design of the measures, including the operation of the appropriate levels of discretion by the community welfare officers. A total of 27,000 rent supplements have been awarded since the measures came into effect at the end of January this year.
The recent report by CentreCare and the City Centre Citizens Information Service states that its purpose was "to identify issues arising from the first six months since changes to rent supplement eligibility were introduced". The report was based on a survey of 51 cases where the applicant was refused rent supplement and information on 40 other similar cases that were not included in the survey. The report does not show that the new measures are causing hardship or crises. In some cases rent supplement was awarded. It is clear from the information given in respect of a number of other cases cited that the application had failed for reasons other than the new measures. My Department has identified a number of inaccuracies in the report and does not accept its central conclusions.
In light of the report published by the social partners working group and the fact that more than 27,000 rent supplements have been awarded since the measures became effective, it is considered that the changes in the supplementary welfare allowance rent supplement scheme have not created hardship. These arrangements are part of a wider programme of change whereby local authorities will progressively assume responsibility for meeting long-term housing needs. These new arrangements will see local authorities put in place positive solutions for people with long-term housing needs.
Is the Minister aware that Ballymun is the only place in Ireland where one cannot avail of rent supplement? According to the CentreCare report, the Minister's predecessor and now the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, issued instructions to the health board covering that area that nobody in the Ballymun regeneration area was to receive rent supplement unless the local authority there agreed. Does the Minister agree that this flies in the face of the Government's homelessness strategy of local response to homelessness? Nobody in that area has received rent supplement since last June. It is a scandal. Why are the people of Ballymun not allowed to avail of rent supplement? Instead of the local authority assessing people's housing needs, does the Minister not think it is time an independent assessor did so?
It is wrong that the people of Ballymun are not allowed to receive rent supplement. That is discrimination against them. Why is this happening? The Minister is a Dublin Deputy and another Dublin Member, Deputy O'Connor, is sitting behind him. I am surprised this matter has not been raised previously in the Dáil. It is wrong. Why should there be discrimination against the people of Ballymun? I ask the Minister to issue a directive tomorrow rescinding the directive made by the previous Minister. Nobody can decide who is in need of housing or rent supplement because one does not know on a daily basis what will happen. This is discrimination and I ask the Minister to deal with it. He might not be aware of it and it might be unfair to throw it at him. However, I urge him to check this out and have the directive I referred to rescinded immediately. The people of Ballymun should be treated equally to the people of the rest of the country.
I thank the Deputy for bringing that to my attention. I am not aware of any issue in regard to Ballymun. I would be surprised if there was a particular instruction or directive in regard to a certain location and if any such piece of paper existed in that format based on a geographic location rather than on general eligibility rules. I will take up the Deputy's invitation to see what is happening there.
Deputy Ring has pre-empted my Question No. 141 which asks about designated geographic areas and I will wait to see what the reply states. In regard to Deputy Eamon Ryan's Question No. 150, which returns to the CentreCare report and which I appreciate was dealt with during priority questions, the Minister and his Department officials seem to be listening to what they want to hear in terms of who issues a report on this matter. The quote from the CentreCare report is quite emphatic. It states that the new rules intended to reform the rent supplement scheme are creating crises through new eligibility requirements. It is not only this report or this organisation which has stated that. This morning the One Family group, which used to be known as Cherish, in launching its pre-budget submission said that it wished to see it rescinded and that it was causing great hardship for one parent families. It said it was part of a group of 39 NGOs also campaigning to rescind this measure. In making his decision on the effect the decision on rent supplement has had, will the Minister defer to the report he has just received or will he listen to Department officials or the actual experience of people working with disadvantaged people in disadvantaged communities?
I have invited all the groups in this area, including those the Deputy mentioned — there is a large number of groups in this area — to meet me on an organisation by organisation basis as soon as we can arrange dates so that I can learn first-hand what their priorities are rather than from any intermediaries. Next Monday I will meet more than 29 different groups over perhaps four hours as part of a pre-budget forum. I will be able to listen first-hand to what each of those 29 or 30 organisations regard as their priorities, including the areas of homelessness and carer's allowance. I intend to listen directly to those who must deal with these issues rather than study particular reports.
I probably sound surprised given the nature of the order from the Minister's predecessor. I refer the Minister to a letter dated 24 May 2004 from the chief executive of the North Eastern Area Health Board directing that the Northern Area Health Board not pay rent supplements in respect of accommodation in the area delineated in the attached map. It appears to exist and I believe it has to do with the Ballymun regeneration area. What worried community welfare officers in the area was that applicants who had been refused included people who had lived in Ballymun all their lives. What concerned them was that it was referred to by some people as a form of social engineering. That was causing concern in some areas. Perhaps it is an issue which the Minister will examine. Maybe there is a reason for it. The local authority and the Minister may well be involved in it in the context of the regeneration project.
I believe it has to do with the regeneration project.
I warmly welcome the forthright manner in which the Minister has answered questions. It is clearly a new beginning which we should welcome. In regard to what Deputy Ring said earlier, I am proud to be a Dublin Deputy and I will continue to raise issues which are of concern to Dublin and, to my constituency of Dublin South West which includes Tallaght.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
