Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 882: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the funding allocated to local authorities by his Department and the Private Residential Tenancies Board for the purposes of inspecting and regulating the private rented sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28345/08]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides significant resources from the proceeds of tenancy registration fees collected by the Private Residential Tenancies Board, to assist local authorities in discharging their functions under the Housing Acts in relation to private rented accommodation.

The amounts paid to date to local authorities in respect of each of the years 2004 to 2007 are set out as follows. This funding has been increasingly related to actual inspection performance and it is anticipated that this will continue into the future. Finalised data in respect of 2007 are expected to show more than 14,000 inspections carried out by local authorities, an increase of 40% compared to 2006. I have no doubt that the significantly increased funding being made available to local authorities for inspection activity, and the increasingly performance-linked basis for allocations, are contributing significantly to the much improved inspections regime in recent years. I expect to announce 2008 inspection funding allocations shortly.