Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I agree with the views espoused by Threshold. Despite the very considerable public funding that has been utilised in the emergency homeless sector over the last number of years, insufficient progress on delivering people out of emergency accommodation into independent living has been achieved. The Government is determined to tackle homelessness in a more planned and strategic way, by adopting a housing led approach and providing long-term solutions, rather than just managing homelessness.

The programme for Government commits to the introduction of a deposit protection scheme and it is important that action is taken in the context of a strong evidence base. I have asked the Private Residential Tenancies Board, the independent statutory body charged with the administration of the Act, to commission a cost-benefit analysis on such a scheme and to report back to me with recommendations. I expect that the board will revert to me with detailed research and recommendations in the first half of 2012.

In July 2011, the Government approved the drafting of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2011. The general scheme of the Bill proposes the introduction of fines where a landlord is found incorrectly to have retained a tenant's deposit as a first step to eliminating the problem of deposit retention. My Department is currently liaising with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel about the drafting of the Bill.

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