Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

This section refers specifically to data sharing and exchange. I have outlined my concerns and those of the Fine Gael Party with this element of the Bill given that, following its enactment, the local authority will have the authority to share information and data with relevant bodies. The Bill refers to the Private Residential Tenancies Board as a relevant body. I outlined earlier my concerns and those of the joint committee with regard to the operation of the PRTB. Ultimately, it is the State body charged with the important function of registration of rental accommodation in the private sector. With the information gleaned from the members of that board and the other bodies at yesterday's meeting of the joint committee, it is clear this board is not working in the most efficient manner possible. The opposite is the case.

I seek clarification from the Minister on this point. The committee meeting yesterday was told that more than €10 million which has been accumulated from private accommodation registrations by the PRTB is sitting in a bank account waiting to be transferred to local authorities. We spoke about empowering local authorities. Local authorities are empowered and have the obligation to inspect private rented accommodation and, where standards are not kept, they have enforcement powers in that regard. If €10 million is sitting in the PRTB bank account, and the Minister might enlighten me as to how long it has been there, it is a clear breakdown in how our State bodies should operate.

Local authorities are not getting the funding that has already been allocated and collected for them. As I said earlier, four sevenths of the €70 registration charge is retained by the PRTB for its own administration and running costs and three sevenths is ring-fenced and allocated for local authorities. This is an area that needs to be examined. Under the Bill, we will depend on the information coming from agencies such as the PRTB. The breakdowns are already happening and the required efficiencies are not in place. The PRTB has been in operation for more than four years and while one would always allow for teething and functional problems to work themselves out initially, after four years one would think they would not cause barriers to the functioning of the board. Has the Minister been notified that this amount of money is sitting in a bank account? What action does he and his Department intend to take in this regard?

A more serious problem with regard to the Bill concerns the data and information collected by the PRTB with regard to private rental accommodation. Local authorities will depend greatly on the initial set-up of that database of information. The Minister said earlier the PRTB has this information but the point is that it is processing it manually. When it was first set up, the PRTB had just eight staff but this has risen to 40 and it has taken on an additional 26 staff from agencies to manually go through the registration forms because the law precludes it from using the on-line system the Minister intends to use under this Bill. The PRTB cannot use a system similar to the motor tax system, where a person can register on-line, because it needs a change in legislation to allow it to do this.

Clearly, there is a lack of efficiency and certain areas need urgent attention. My concern is that there is already a backlog of people trying to register with the PRTB, yet we are now to require local authorities to contact the PRTB and to have them transfer information from it to them, which will add to existing problems.

I was amazed to find that after four years in existence, the PRTB does not have a modern IT system to manage its registration system and database and does not have an IT system to case manage the many disputes and complaints it receives. The earliest it can deliver such a system, I am told, is mid-2010 and a strategy for this was only adopted in October 2008. Therefore, it will take two years to deliver the computer system and by the time it matches up with the local authorities' system in an effort to support this collection system, there will be more backlogs and more problems in the operations of these two arms of the State.

It is a shame we have a State body in that predicament. If the Minister is looking for efficiencies, this is one area he could certainly try to improve. It is Fine Gael policy to try to wind down the PRTB and merge it with other bodies in an effort to make it more efficient and help it address the problems it is experiencing. The PRTB is taken up in dealing with dispute resolution of private rental accommodation cases which will often apply to the people on this register. It is taking up to 18 months to resolve disputes. In its corporate plan the board set a target of between five and six months such that the time it takes is three times that estimated for resolving disputes. The people appointed to adjudicate on disputes are selected from a panel. Until recently they dealt with only one case per day but they are now being asked to deal with three cases per day. I understand they are co-operating with this request which I consider a very good thing given that they receive more than €600 per day for their services. The PRTB and the way in which it functions-----