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Social Welfare Benefits.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 May 2005

Tuesday, 24 May 2005

Questions (80)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

78 Ms C. Murphy asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the amount which was awarded in rent assistance by his Department, and the number of families or persons awarded rent assistance, on a county basis for the years 2003 and 2004. [16950/05]

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Written answers

The supplementary welfare allowance scheme is administered on my behalf by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive. It provides for the payment of a weekly or monthly rent or mortgage interest supplement to assist eligible people who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available from any other source.

As of 13 May last, there were 58,308 households in receipt of assistance under the rent supplement scheme. Just over half of these, almost 30,000 tenants, have been on the scheme for 18 months or more. Expenditure on rent supplements was almost €332 million in 2003 and just under €354 million in 2004. I have provided €369 million in this year's Estimates for this scheme.

I propose to include a tabular statement in the Official Report today setting out the number of household recipients of rent supplement for the years 2003 and 2004 on a county by county basis, as the Deputy requested. In that table, I have also summarised expenditure on the scheme for the years 2003 and 2004 for each of the former health board areas. Expenditure information is not maintained by my Department on a county by county basis.

(a) Number of recipients of rent supplement by county December 2003 and December 2004

County

2003

2004

Carlow

849

849

Cavan

435

399

Clare

1,228

1,207

Cork

7,257

6,818

Donegal

1,976

1,915

Dublin

21,769

21,920

Galway

4,236

3,718

Kerry

1,728

1,721

Kildare

2,263

2,237

Kilkenny

771

732

Laois

491

379

Leitrim

203

186

Limerick

2,359

2,241

Longford

427

376

Louth

1,872

1,479

Mayo

1,713

1,705

Meath

690

651

Monaghan

377

347

Offaly

425

484

Roscommon

550

519

Sligo

559

434

Tipperary

1,907

1,792

Waterford

1,563

1,578

Westmeath

976

851

Wexford

1,861

1,782

Wicklow

1,491

1,554

Total

59,976

57,874

(b) Expenditure on rent supplements by (former) Health Board, 2003 and 2004.

Health Board

2003

2004

€m

€m

ERHA

176.497

197.948

Midland

11.158

10.638

Mid Western

18.767

19.711

North Eastern

15.962

14.442

North Western

9.364

9.869

South Eastern

28.553

29.552

Southern

41.531

42.249

Western

29.638

29.353

Total €m

333.471

353.762

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