The amount of rent supplement paid by the Government to landlords of tenants claiming social welfare payment is to be cut by up to a third.
The decreases reflect the collapse in rental values in parts of the country where there is a glut of housing as a result of the boom.
The counties where the supplement will decrease by the maximum amount are Leitrim, Longford, Cavan, Roscommon and Monaghan where tax incentives have left ghost estates everywhere.
The biggest changes will affect single people in shared accommodation, couples or one parent families with three children where the minimum amount to be paid will decrease from €663 a month to €500 a month, a decrease of 32.6 per cent.
The current rental supplement paid to a couple with three children living in a three bedroom house in Roscommon will fall from €780 a month to €520 a month, a 33 per cent decrease.
Couples living on their own or with one child and one parent families with one child will see the minimum payable rent reduce from ¤568 a month to ¤400 a month, a decrease of 30 per cent.
The Government hopes to save €20 million a year out of a total rent supplement bill of €500 million, a saving of 4 per cent.
There will be no change to the rent supplement paid for single people living on their own reflecting that the market remains competitive for people in that category.
Focus Ireland welcomed the recommendation to protect single people living alone from cuts to rent supplement payments
It is the second time the Government has cut the rent supplement it pays to landlords. In 2009, it cut it across the board by 8 per cent, but this time the changes reflect regional demand for rented accommodation. There is only a marginal decrease in the amounts paid to landlords in Dublin city.
The Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív said the changes reflected that it was now a "buyer's market" because of the oversupply of accommodation and the new figures were based on the latest CSO figures which show an 8 per cent decrease in rents nationwide.
He said his Department accounted for half of all private rented accommodation in the country and the rate it pays had to reflect market values.
