Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will get it done soon.

We have all had engagements with the RTB. It is doing a fantastic job in a difficult environment, given what is happening for renters and landlords. One of the first things that I wanted to do on foot of meeting the RTB when I first entered office was to help put in place a change management programme for the organisation to ensure that it had the powers and funding necessary to become an independent regulator for the sector and a robust defender of the rights of both sides of the equation. That is where we are going. We intend the 2019 increase in moneys to support the €7 million in non-pay costs reflecting the expansion of the RTB's core functions that we have outlined and the forthcoming changes to the rent pressure zones, and to resource the additional powers and functions that will be rolled out for the RTB under the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018, which the House discussed recently and will be on Committee Stage soon. The RTB will also be able to initiate complaints and then investigate them. We are moving towards the annual registration of tenancies. The RTB continues to develop a new IT system, which will help in acquiring better and more granular data on what is happening in the rental sector ahead of moving towards rent registers and rent transparency. The money will go into those different strands, which we developed over the course of 2018.

Since the first housing summit, we have told local authorities that, if they want to hire additional staff for housing functions, we would provide that funding. The short answer to the Deputy's question is that it will be provided through a number of streams. If I remember correctly, each of the vacant housing officer posts in the 31 local authorities costs approximately €50,000. Those moneys will be provided through the subhead in question as opposed to through a separate stream.

Regarding the funding allocation to Dublin City Council for short-term letting, officials are continuing their engagement on the resource requirements. The council has an idea as to how it wants to approach this and I have an idea as to how I want to approach it. Both sides have different demands, but the money is not so much that, if we needed extra, we could not repurpose it from somewhere else. We are not discussing the €13 million of the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF. As far as I am concerned, funding will not be an obstacle.

The Minister of State, Deputy English, will address the question of Traveller accommodation.