Ms Helen Faughnan:

With regard to Senator Moloney's queries, we determine rent limits by using the most available data sources to ascertain both the market trends and current asking prices for the various one, two and three-bedroomed properties throughout the country on a county-by-county basis. In particular, we have access to the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, databases. A departmental employee is on the board of the PRTB. We also consult leading websites that advertise properties for rent. The bonus of being able to access the PRTB data means that we know the actual rents being paid rather than the asking prices on the rental websites. We also use the CSO rental indices and local knowledge. As part of the rent review, we consult with many organisations working in the housing sector including local authorities, the Simon Community and Threshold. Departmental staff have built up a huge amount of expertise in carrying out these reviews over the past number of years. We are aware that the market is changing substantially, which is why we are carrying out our current review. We hope to have the new rent limits available with effect from June 2013. They were supposed to come in from July but we have intensified the work and are bringing them forward by a month. We should have our report completed at the end of May and the new limits should be available from June. The report and how we came about the data will be published on the Department's website as well.