John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Sure. I have always advocated giving flexibility to the local authority sector. That is a given as far as I am concerned. However, what I do not want is that flexibility being used as a barrier to implementing this scheme to the fullest extent that we all want from a Department and an Oireachtas perspective.

I refer to Ms Stapleton and the RTB figures. I appreciate the RTB is not present to answer for itself, however, is it the view of the Department that the reason we have seen an uplift in the figure for quarters 3 and 4 of 2022 and quarters 1 and 2 of 2023, as outlined, is because there was a change in reporting by the RTB, or is it a coincidence? Previously, a person had to notify the RTB when a tenancy was terminated 28 days after being terminated. Whereas those notices now have to come at the exact same time as they are issued to the tenant. I believe this would explain the huge ballooning in those figures. I suspect those figures were there in quarters 1 and 2 of 2022, but they were not reflected in the figures we are seeing because there was a different reporting mechanism in place in quarters 1 and 2 of last year. Would that be the Department's view?