Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 21: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the action he has taken following two errors in appointing persons to the Private Residential Tenancies Board who did not meet the membership criteria set down in legislation, to ensure he does not repeat the same mistake; when his attention was drawn to an error in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3858/09]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 25: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the status, following the passage of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2009, of the ten board members illegally appointed as regards the expiration of their appointment to the dispute resolution committee; if section 159 (3) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 is to be applied to future appointments to the DRC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3903/09]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 27: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if, in the normal course of events, all members of the board of the Private Residential Tenancies Board are appointed to the dispute resolution committee; if the two persons illegally appointed to the board were at any stage appointed to the DRC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3905/09]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 46: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way and the date the illegal appointment of board members of the Private Residential Tenancies Board to the dispute resolution committee came to his notice; the question that arose as to whether statutory requirements to consult with him were formally satisfied in making those appointments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3904/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Question Nos. 21, 25, 27 and 46 together.

On 30 June 2008, Councillors Dessie Larkin and Vincent P. Martin were appointed as members of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) for the period up to 31 December 2012. Subsequently, the Board appointed both members to its Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC), consistent with its general policy of appointing all Board members to the DRC.

However, on 12 September 2008, it was brought to my Department's attention that section 169 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 precludes members of local authorities from membership of the Board. Therefore the appointments of Councillors Larkin and Martin to the Board were invalid. Following the matter being brought to notice, my Department acted immediately, contacting both individuals concerned and explaining that their ineligibility for appointment to the Board had been mistakenly overlooked by my Department at the time of their appointment.

As I indicated to the House when this matter arose on the Adjournment on 9 October 2008, neither individual had participated in any Tenancy Tribunals drawn from the membership of the DRC. While they had attended five Board meetings at which Tenancy Tribunal cases were discussed, all decisions at those meetings were taken by consensus and with an attendance well in excess of the quorum of five. Nevertheless, in the interests of legal certainty, the Board reconsidered all decisions taken at those meetings at a Board meeting on 19 September 2008 and fresh determination orders and decisions were made.

The separate issue which gave rise to the enactment last week of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2009 concerned a procedural error by the Board of the PRTB in making appointments to its Dispute Resolution Committee. While section 159(3) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 requires that a member of the Board must have at least three years remaining in their Board term of office to be appointed to the Committee, it emerged in December 2008 that this requirement had not been complied with in the case of a number of DRC appointments made by the Board. The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2009 enacted last week has regularised this deficiency and the individuals concerned will now continue to be members of the DRC for the period specified by the Board when making the appointments, even where this extends beyond their term of Board membership. In the absence of documentary evidence that the requirements of section 159 in relation to consultation with the Minister regarding appointments to the DRC had been complied with by the Board, the legislation also addressed this issue, for the avoidance of any doubt.

The issue which ultimately gave rise to the legislation enacted last week was identified within the PRTB on 9 December 2008 and my Department was advised informally the following day of the fact that there was a potential difficulty, at which point the PRTB sought legal advice on the matter. On foot of the legal advice received, the Board indicated to my Department on 19 December 2008 that it would be submitting a written request for the introduction of legislation to regularise the situation. Minister Gormley was advised of the matter on that date and it was brought to my attention on my return to the office on Monday 22 December 2008, on which date the formal request from the PRTB was received.

Given the time, effort and cost expended by the PRTB in convening the Tribunals involved, and given that the professionalism and procedures of the Tribunals were not in any doubt, it was considered that neither landlords, tenants nor the taxpayer would be well served by potentially adding further to the PRTB caseload and that emergency legislation of the kind sought by the Board should be introduced to address the situation. The matter was immediately taken up with the Office of the Attorney General, culminating in the introduction of the legislation on the first day of the new Dáil term on 27 January 2009.

While the legislation regularises the appointments concerned, it does not amend the terms of section 159 of the 2004 Act. Accordingly, the requirements of section 159 continue to apply to all future DRC appointments. My Department has written to the PRTB in this regard, emphasising the need for absolute diligence by the Board in ensuring future compliance with the requirements of section 159 and all other provisions of the Act.

When the issue in relation to the DRC appointments was brought to attention in December 2008, my Department requested the PRTB to urgently commission an external audit to check compliance with the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 with regard to governance and legal structures, appointment of Board members and Committee members and any other relevant aspects relating to the governance provisions of the Act. This compliance audit was completed in January 2009 and has identified no similar issues requiring legislative correction.

Finally, it should be noted that I have requested my Department to undertake a review of the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 under which the PRTB operates. The purpose of this review, which will get underway shortly, is to consider whether, in light of more than four years' operational experience, the PRTB's underpinning legislative framework can be improved in order to further support the effective regulation of a healthy and well-functioning private rental sector.