4. (1) In this Part—

“Act of 2005” means the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005;

“Act of 2011” means the Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Act 2011;

“appeals officer” means a person appointed by the Minister for Social Protection in accordance with section 12;

“applicant” means a person who makes an application undersection 7(1);

“appointed officer” means a person designated by the Minister for Social Protection under section 10;

“Eircode” means a postcode allocated under the national postcode system;

“eligible dwelling” means a dwelling to which an Eircode has been allocated;

“enactment” means—

(a) an Act of the Oireachtas,

(b) a statute that was in force in Saorstát Éireann immediately before the date of the coming into operation of the Constitution and that continued in force by virtue of Article 50 of the Constitution, or

(c) an instrument made under an Act of the Oireachtas or a statute referred to in paragraph (b);

“Minister” means the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth;

“national postcode system” has the same meaning as it has in section 66 of the Act of 2011;

“personal public service number” means a number allocated and issued in accordance with section 262 of the Act of 2005;

“postcode” has the same meaning as it has in section 66 of the Act of 2011;

“qualifying period” means the period commencing on 4 March 2022 and expiring on the scheme termination date;

“scheme termination date” means 31 March 2023 or such later date as may be specified by the Minister in an order made by him or her under subsection (2);

“temporary protection beneficiary” means a person to whom section 60 of the International Protection Act 2015 applies on foot of Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 of 4 March 2022¹ and who has been given a permission to reside in the State under subsection (6) of that section, F1[which permission is valid;]

F2["tenancy" means a tenancy in existence on, or at any time since, 4 March 2022—

(a) that is registered under Part 7 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004,

(b) that is required, under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, to be registered under Part 7 of that Act, or

(c) that has, at any time since 4 March 2022, been required, under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, to be registered under Part 7 of that Act.]

(2) The Minister may, following consultation with the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, make an order that the date referred to in the definition of “scheme termination date” in subsection (1) shall be such date as is later than 31 March 2023 as the Minister considers appropriate and specifies in the order, having regard to the matter specified in subsection (3).

(3) The Minister shall, in making an order under subsection (2), have regard to the need to continue to make provision for a financial contribution to assist in increasing the availability of accommodation for temporary protection beneficiaries.

(4) Where an order under subsection (2) is proposed to be made, a draft of the order shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving the draft has been passed by each such House.