Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

Has consideration been given to making the penalties for doing so much more stringent, thus strengthening the law in this regard? As for the interdepartmental committee, has the Minister discussed with her officials making a proposal to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to the effect that registration of properties to let should be carried out before letting takes place? This would be in contrast to the current situation, in which one lets the property and then registers with the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, which is when the standards apply. In this way, the Minister could be absolutely sure that all properties that were eligible for rent supplement would be up to standard because of the obligation to pre-register such properties. I was driving that agenda when I was in the Department because it is a case of the horse being behind the cart at present and that should be reversed.

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