I wish to raise two issues regarding the housing assistance payment, HAP, in the context of constituents in Dublin Bay North. The first is HAP discrimination. Is the Tánaiste aware of cases of landlords refusing to take tenants who are on HAP? While this practice is illegal, it is still happening routinely across Dublin Bay North. The other issue is the thresholds that apply. Constituents are being refused HAP support on the basis of their average net income over 12 months. If you lose your job or face a financial crisis, your income falls off a cliff but you are still assessed on the average of the previous 12 months. It is unfair and does not reflect the reality of the situation for those people.

What can we do to better help people who experience sudden and devastating changes to their lives to access those HAP supports? What can we do to deal with those landlords who are refusing access?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue with the housing assistance payment. As he rightly says, the law is clear about people not being able to refuse a tenant on the basis of HAP. He is also right to highlight the fact that there are sometimes people trying to skirt the law in this regard. I will bring those comments to the attention of the Minister for housing. The second issue he raised about rent limits is important and I am pleased to tell him the Department has now undertaken a review of all the existing HAP rent limits to ensure there is sufficient support under the HAP scheme to assist eligible households to access accommodation in the private rental sector. It is intended that the review process will conclude before the end of quarter 2, so this summer. We will have an opportunity to consider what to do about reviewing rent limits at that point.