Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government

Housing and Rental Market: Discussion

9:30 am

Mr. Richard Shakespeare:

We are reliant on complaints being made to us. So far this year, we have had 23 complaints out of a total of 665 enforcement complaints, representing about 4% or 5% of what we have had. They are investigated and followed through. One of the big problems with the enforcement side of things is the fact that when one brings it to its logical conclusion and one is satisfied that an offence has been committed, there is a threshold of proof for criminal prosecution which can be difficult to get to. We need to establish that burden of proof before we take a criminal prosecution.