Mr. Paul Lemass:

I thank the Deputy. To put it in context, the number of private tenancies registered in quarter 3 of 2020 was 25,607 and in quarter 4 of 2020, it was 19,287. The overall number of tenancies has been in the order of 300,000 for quite some time, so the overall numbers have not moved that much. I accept there will always be landlords who do not register but we are satisfied that 15 staff on investigations and sanctions is a significant number of people who can actually follow up on these things. Not everything results in a conviction. It may lead to a situation where people just register and that is the end of it.

I would add though that the investigations and sanctions unit has assessed information in relation to 1,531 tenancies. Out of that, it has commenced investigations on 337 tenancies and 241 of those are still in investigation. Getting to the court process at the end of that takes time; there is no doubt about it. Covid has not helped with that. I am satisfied that the unit, with 15 full-time staff and legislative powers, is in the right position to do what needs to be done.

The Department and the RTB also rely on members of the public to make them aware of things. If, as in the Deputy's case, there are 142 tenancies not registered, that is the kind of information the RTB needs to hear from members of the public. In reality, we rely on that information, as well as other sources, for example, scanning lettings pages to make sure that if a property is being put up for let, it subsequently features on an RTB registration. That is the effort that is being put in.