Mr. Niall Byrne:

My understanding of the arrangement is that information goes from the RTB to the Revenue Commissioners to assist the latter with its functions in relation to tax compliance. Strategically this is a very important issue for the RTB and we will be developing a new corporate strategy this year for 2023 out to 2025. I am hearing quite a number of suggestions here today about important issues that we need to consider in the context of that and which we will need to translate into operational performance and results.

I am very interested in the two-way flow of information with other State bodies and there is also an action in Housing for All which relates to this. I will be taking the matter up with the Revenue Commissioners to see what we can do on an administrative basis and in terms of the extent to which this might need a legal authority for the sharing of the information, we will pursue that. Revenue has information about landlords and it is really important that we gather in everything that is relevant. Data is the currency of regulation in so many ways. It is imperative that we have everything we need in order to take relevant action. There are other things we can do by way of gathering data from publicly available websites, advertising and so on. Our new technology platform, with further development, will potentially give us scope to gather information from those kinds of external sources. The more information we have, the better informed we are and, therefore, the more steps we can take and the better the information we can give members of this committee about the nature of compliance and the nature of the market.