LIMERICK has one of the lowest amounts of payment awards in excess of prevailing rent limits made in Ireland, according to figures released to Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea.
Deputy O’Dea asked the number of persons in receipt of rent supplement by county and the number that have had their payment increased over the prescribed limits.
Minister Regina Doherty said that at the end of February, there were 465 people in receipt of rent supplement in Limerick, with 18 granted a payment increase over the prescribed rent limits.
“This is very hard to understand particularly in light of the fact that Limerick showed the highest increase in rent of any city in the 12 months up to last November, with a year on year increase of 20.3 per cent in rents,” Deputy O’Dea responded.
There are only 108 recipients of rent allowance in Clare and 64 payment awards in excess of prevailing rent limits.
“I will be questioning the Minister further on the situation, as this is impacting people’s lives, their livelihoods and their future here in Limerick. We cannot continue with a situation where landlords can keep increasing rents to levels which people simply cannot afford and State schemes such as Rent Supplement are not sufficient to enable people to rent a property and still have enough disposable income left over to live a decent life,” he said.
