Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has made a good point. We have changed the regulations to permit that method of inspection and we encourage all local authorities to proceed on that basis. The pandemic poses difficulties for local authorities but there is no reason people should be living in substandard accommodation. In the budget, we also allocated significant additional funding for the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, and inspectors in local authorities to ensure inspections take place and accommodation is at the required standard. If there are specific issues concerning accommodation in Louth, I am more than happy for Deputy O'Dowd to correspond with me directly. We will engage with the local authority to ensure that happens.

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