Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed)

3:00 pm

Ms Rosemary Steen:

We see potential issues when people come in search of the mediation services. It is normally when a tenant or somebody in one of the relationships mentioned seeks support. I would like to take the question away with our team and determine the number of people who apply for mediation who are not registered and whose support we cannot move forward as a consequence.

I would like to take that back and have a look at our statistics to see if we capture that currently. That might be the most accurate way of understanding how widespread an issue it is. Obviously, this is an issue for us on which we must stick to our knitting to some degree in terms of ensuring the compliance we are mandated to do under the legislation is done to the highest possible standard. As regards the point Deputy Ó Broin and the Cathaoirleach both made about the fact there is a wider community potentially in need of support and advice around issues in these different types of living arrangements, I will take that point back to see how we might address it. Certainly, through the communications campaign, we will be looking to ensure people understand what formal arrangements in the context of the RTB legislation mean and how they can get in contact with us. There was some feedback that this needed to be slightly clearer on our website. If people want some form of advice, there is then the question of whether we could give greater helpline-type assistance. That is something for the broader sector that needs to be considered. At the moment, there is nothing jumping out at me as the new director coming and looking at the statistics. It is more about this issue of the different types of living arrangements regionally. That is the new outcome or learning we saw from the study. I hope that is helpful.

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