An instruction not to pay a rent allowance to some asylum-seekers caused conflict between Government Departments, it has emerged.
In January a senior Department of Justice official accused the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs (DSCFA) of undermining her Department's policy.
A note on the accusation is included in documents supplied to The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.
The conflict arose from a Government decision to disperse asylum-seekers around the State because of a lack of accommodation for them in Dublin.
New asylum-seekers are sent to hotels closed for the winter and other accommodation, with full board paid for by the State. They get £15 a week comfort money per adult and £7.50 per child.
This is similar to what is expected to happen under the system of "direct provision", due to be introduced in April. But community welfare officers were also told they should not pay a rent allowance to asylum-seekers who left the full-board accommodation to move to a house or flat, typically to Dublin.
Many community welfare officers were angered by this instruction, and some of them said there was no legal basis for it.
In mid-January, Ms Bernice O'Neill, who is in charge of the "direct provision" policy at the Department of Justice, sought a meeting with the DSCFA. According to notes of the meeting, she expressed concern that asylum-seekers were leaving their full board and lodgings and were being given rent allowances when they got to Dublin.
A DSCFA official, Mr Brian O Raghallaigh, told her welfare officers had concerns about enforcing a requirement about where people should live. This was a policing and not a welfare role, they believed. He suggested the Department of Justice use its powers under the Aliens Act to direct asylum-seekers to live at a specified place.
Ms O'Neill told him her Department did not want to use that power "and in any event it might not survive a legal challenge," the note says.
It goes on to say that she said she was meeting the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, later that afternoon.
Mr O Raghallaigh told her he would consider issuing a note to health boards, but there was no question of a blanket instruction to refuse rent supplement in all cases. The instruction was issued two days later, telling community welfare officers they should not "in general" pay rent supplements to people who left full-board accommodation.
Since then community welfare officers have sought a meeting on the issue with a joint Department of Justice/Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs committee. They remain "extremely unhappy" with the situation, an IMPACT spokesman said.
e-mail: pomorain@irish-times.ie