Rules restricting access to the rent supplement, one of the most controversial of the so-called "savage 16" welfare cuts, will be eased from today.
The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, has issued a circular to social welfare officials ending a clause under which many applicants were refused rent supplement unless they spent the previous six months in rented accommodation.
Support groups said the measures, introduced under the former minister with responsibility for the area, Ms Mary Coughlan, were leading to hardship and homelessness among vulnerable groups.
Mr Brennan said following December's Budget he would axe the six-month eligibility restriction following evidence that it was indirectly leading to hardship among some applicants.
New guidelines will also be issued to community welfare officers in the coming days regarding other aspects of the "savage 16" cuts, such as the crèche and diet supplements, which were cut or phased out 12 months ago.
Fresh figures show €354 million was spent on the rent supplement last year to 57,500 tenants. Rent supplement recipients account for about one third of the entire private rented sector in the State.
Around half of the households on rent supplement have children. The majority of these - 72 per cent - are headed by a lone parent.
While plans to change eligibility rules were welcomed last December by groups representing vulnerable people, Fine Gael's spokesman on social and family affairs, Mr David Stanton, yesterday criticised the delay in reversing the measure.
"These changes were announced two months ago, yet this is the first of the savage 16 to be changed. I can't understand why there should be a delay, given that the Department withdrew social welfare overpayments within one week at the start of January," he said.
Eligibility for rent supplement is based on a number of criteria including a person's means, rent level and employment status.
