Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 17: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if it is his intention to immediately bring the Private Residential Tenancies Board within the ambit of the Freedom of Information Act 1997 and the Office of the Ombudsman; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3907/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The functions of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) are, at present, outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 1997 and the Ombudsman Act 1980.

The Board commenced operations in September 2004 and has made considerable progress since then. Given the importance of openness and transparency in relation to the operation of State bodies generally, it is my intention that the Board, subject to exemptions that recognise its quasi-judicial functions, should come under the scope of the Freedom of Information code. My Department is in discussions in this regard with the Department of Finance, which has overall responsibility for the Freedom of Information Act and its extension to further bodies. At this stage, it is intended that the matter will be progressed in the context of proposals to be brought forward later in the year by the Department of Finance for the extension of the Freedom of Information Acts to a number of additional public bodies. Once approved, and an implementation date has been agreed, the formal extension of the Act to additional bodies can be given effect by Regulations.

I do not propose that the Board be brought within the remit of the Ombudsman, given the quasi-judicial nature of much of its work.