Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is important that we work with up-to-date data. The difficulty with the data on the Department's website is that the most up-to-date data on the private rental figures is 2013-2014. If there are more up-to-date data, perhaps the Department could forward them on. I assume that the most up-to-date data are the National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC, annual performance and indicator reports. If there are other sources that we do not know about, maybe the witnesses would let the committee know because it saves them having to give it to us.

With regard to the rent issue, as raised by Mr. Walsh, the most up-to-date figures from one of the NOAC reports tell us that rental income during 2014 across the local authorities was €348 million. The costs of maintenance, rent administration and the community function was almost €297 million. The Waterford local authority had rental income of €11 million but the maintenance and administration was €7.1 million. Clearly there is money there. I am not saying that the €6 million spent in 2014 was sufficient, and perhaps the Waterford local authority would have wanted to spend more if it had had it. Is it a problem that rents are being diverted to other areas of local government expenditure or is it that rents could not cover the level of maintenance that is required? I ask this in order for us to understand the issue properly.