Part 2 of the Act establishes a financial contribution to be paid to persons hosting beneficiaries of temporary protection. A person shall be eligible for a financial contribution where they are the owner of the dwelling or where they are the tenant of the dwelling and one or more beneficiaries of temporary protection have the right to enter and occupy all or part of the dwelling and they occupy the dwelling or part of it there on the last day of the calendar of the month. There cannot be a rental agreement in place and the temporary protection beneficiary is not in receipt of a rent supplement, housing assistance or social housing support. An application for the financial contribution is made to the Minister for Social Protection. The financial contribution shall be €400 or, where relevant, an amount is specified by the Minister when having regard to the number of persons who avail of the contribution, the number of temporary protection beneficiaries accommodated and the cost to the Exchequer, but not the cost to those seeking to avail of the contribution. There are also provisions for, inter alia, appeals, recovering overpayments, for the sharing of information, the appointing of relevant officers and offences and penalties under this part of the Act.
Part 4 of the Act amends the Immigration Act 2004 as regards registration and requirements to furnish, produce or provide particulars, information or a document to a registration officer. It removes the connection to a particular registration office under section 9 of the 2004 Act. A registration officer is defined under a newly inserted section 9B to include persons other than members of An Garda Síochána, and now includes members of An Garda Síochána not below the rank of superintendent or officers of the Minister for Justice not below the rank or grade of Assistant Principal Officer. There are also provisions for a registration officer to delegate their functions.
Part 5 of the Act makes amendments to legislation on the processing of personal data as regards immigration and social welfare. It permits a relevant officer, in accordance with the Data Protection Regulation and GDPR, to collect personal data for the purposes of a relevant immigration enactment, a relevant social welfare enactment, or for both. A relevant officer includes an officer of the Minister of Justice, a registration officer within the meaning of the 2004 Act, an immigration officer within the meaning of the 2004 Act, an International Protection Officer within the meaning of the International Protection Act 2015, or an officer of the Minister for Social Protection. The data collected may be processed to the extent necessary and proportionate by a person who has a function under the immigration enactments or the social welfare enactment or a person who has a purpose of enabling the two other persons. The Minister for Justice, with the consent of the Minister for Social Protection, may assign an immigration enactment as ‘relevant’, provided that it is an enactment where a person is required to provide personal data and it is likely the person would wish to simultaneously provide personal data for a relevant social welfare payment, and there would be benefit in terms of reducing an administrative or financial burden and it would be efficient and useful for the relevant officer.
