Gilmore rejects rent supplement rise as answer to housing crisis
The Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has said the government cannot simply raise rent supplements to ease the housing crisis.
Gilmore added giving struggling families more money to pay for rent would only make the problem worse.
Community welfare officers are being given the power to raise the supplements for some families who face the risk of homelessness.
However, Gilmore has told the Dáil that doing that across the board will only increase the price of rent for everyone else.
"The answer to that is not simply to raise the rent supplement every time that there's an adjustment in rent - because if you do that it's a never-ending problem" he said.
"Rents keep going up and we know from previous experience that as the rent supplement goes up, the rents go up to meet it," he noted.
