Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE) as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The purpose of the rent supplement scheme is to provide short-term income support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation, whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.
The Executive has advised that rent supplement was refused on the basis that the person concerned was not in a position to afford the rent at the time she took on the tenancy in question. She was in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance at that time. Article 9(2) (a)(1) of SI 412/07 provides that a Rent Supplement should only be paid where the claimant "could reasonably have afforded the rent at the commencement of the tenancy". She appealed against this decision to an Appeals Officer of the Executive and that appeal was successful. The person concerned was advised of the Appeals Officer's decision on 16 June 2009.