Mr. Niall Byrne:

We are principally here today to discuss the subject of the register and registration numbers. However, obviously, yes, the whole area of dispute resolution is an important part of our functions in the RTB. That is an area we regard as a priority alongside other priority areas. All the priority areas are called out in our RTB Statement of Strategy for 2023-2025: Public Consultation Report. We have plans to examine much more closely our dispute resolution service and particularly the performance of the service itself. Clearly, the public - the public being landlords, tenants and people affected - want that service to be available, effective and very timely.

At the moment, our 2022 performance numbers are reported in the annual report for 2022. They are what they are. The mediation service we provide is a very timely and effective service. We provide telephone mediation, which allows quite a quick turnaround time and sometimes disputes are dealt with in eight weeks or even less. Adjudications are, of course, much more difficult by definition to resolve. It is cases where people had not thought mediation was an option so clearly there is something much more at issue, and then they follow a much more quasi-judicial type process. There is evidence and there must be due process. That all takes time. Cases that go to the tribunal on appeal take quite a bit of time as well.

We are concerned about the timeframes. We are concerned to try to reduce the timeframes. We have been doing quite a lot of analytical work this year to examine the processes ourselves, to make sure the processes are properly defined and are fit for purpose. Some of them have drifted away somewhat over the last few years from being as effective as they should be. That is one of our core priorities for 2024.