Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 58 together.

Under the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No.2) Order 2008, the powers delegated to me in my capacity as a Minister of State include the powers conferred on the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government by the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, other than sections 153, 154, 155 and 180 of that Act. The specific sections referred to relate to appointments to the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, the appointment of a chairperson of the board and issues relating to the board's annual report and accounts; accordingly these matters remain the responsibility of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. While the other powers contained in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 are delegated to me, it should be noted that under the delegation of functions legislation, every delegated power and duty continues to be vested in the Minister concurrently with the Ministers of State and may be exercised and performed by either.

On foot of concerns regarding the procedural and technical correctness of a number of appointments to the Dispute Resolution Committee, DRC, brought to my Department's attention by the board in December 2008, the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2009 was introduced to regularise the appointments in question. Those concerns related to a number of appointments to the DRC that had not complied with the requirement under section 159(3) of the original Act that a member of the board must have at least three years remaining in their board term of office to be appointed to the Dispute Resolution Committee. In introducing the regularising legislation, it was decided, for the avoidance of doubt, also to regularise DRC appointments from the perspective of the requirement to consult with the Minister, as documentary evidence was not available to show that those consultation requirements had been complied with.

I am circulating in the Official Report a table setting out the names and periods of appointment of the 15 non-board members currently appointed to the Dispute Resolution Committee. The fees payable to members of the DRC were sanctioned by the Department of Finance in November 2005 and have subsequently been increased in line with general round pay increases. The current fee for members of a tenancy tribunal drawn from the Dispute Resolution Committee is €387 per day. The fee for the chairperson of such tribunals is €603 per day.

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