Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Broughan for his amendments. Unfortunately, I cannot accept them because the intention of sections 19 and 20 of the Bill is to provide the RTB with the power to charge a fee for its mediation service, although I understand that the RTB does not plan to use this new power in the short or medium term. I agree that there is merit in continuing to encourage the use of the free RTB mediation service. As I said on Committee Stage, this encouragement will continue into the medium term, as the RTB is not planning to introduce a mediation fee.

Regarding amendment No. 24, the Deputy made the point that the market has failed and he is right. That is why the State is making such a significant intervention in the housing sector now. In terms of the anonymisation of data in the context of publishing determination orders, we are including the names in order to deter inappropriate behaviour on the part of landlords. The aim is to publish a list similar to the list published of those who have not met their tax obligations. We will publish a list of those landlords - and in some cases, tenants - against whom orders have been made by the RTB. As the Deputy knows, in terms of the determinations made by the RTB, the vast majority are cases where the landlord has been found to be in breach of his or her obligations. Were we to anonymise that data, we would remove the deterrent that we believe is necessary. We want to be able to hold landlords to account robustly and to deter other landlords who might think about breaching the law.

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