Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 June 2023
382. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will investigate claims that the landlord was asking tenants for their HAP pin number - as per the email your office received on 25 May 2023 (details supplied); and if he will consider that this a serious breach of data protection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29357/23]
View answerThe Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a form of social housing support available for people who have a long-term housing need. Any household assessed as eligible for social housing is immediately eligible for HAP. When registering for HAP the tenant is issued with a unique customer number and a pin number. The combination of the customer number and pin number allows payment of differential rent over the phone. The customer number and pin can also be used to complete registration on the HAP app. Once the tenant has registered they can set their own password instead of using the pin that was provided.
Under data protection legislation, any unauthorised access of stored personal data would ordinarily be considered a data breach. If a member of the public has concerns regarding unauthorised access of their personal data they may wish to raise their concerns with the Data Protection Commission - www.dataprotection.ie/.
Under the HAP scheme, eligible households source their own accommodation in the private rented sector. The tenancy agreement is between the HAP recipient and the private landlord.
