Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 375: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the details on the forms of equality proofing, rural proofing, environment proofing and public health proofing he applies to housing policy and practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25755/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The principles underpinning current Government housing policy are set out in my Department's housing policy statement Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities published in February, 2007. The policy statement is underpinned by the sustainable communities philosophy which incorporates economic, environmental and social considerations. Sustainable communities are defined as communities that are "safe and inclusive, well planned, built and run, offer equality of opportunity and good services for all".

In addition, to enable all those involved in the provision of housing to achieve the objectives outlined in the policy statement, my Department also published best practice guidelines Quality Housing for Sustainable Communities in 2007. These guidelines, which apply to all new social housing projects, outline the essential requirements for good quality sustainable housing development which should, inter alia, be socially and environmentally appropriate, architecturally appropriate, accessible and adaptable, safe, secure and healthy, affordable, durable and resource efficient. Work is underway also on the production of a sustainable community proofing toolkit which will be introduced for all new local authority housing projects.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 376: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will initiate legislation to establish a housing ombudsman to provide an administrative remedy short of the Courts, in the interest of quicker and less expensive resolution of housing disputes and redress of violations of the right to housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25756/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Complaints concerning the administrative actions of local authorities already come within the remit of the Ombudsman and, as such, an administrative remedy without recourse to the Courts already exists in respect of any housing related dispute involving a housing authority.

Complaints regarding services provided by financial service providers, including mortgage lenders, can be made by consumers to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

In relation to private rented housing, the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 introduced a new regulatory framework governing private rented residential accommodation and it provided for, inter alia, the registration of private rented residential tenancies, the cheap and speedy resolution of disputes between parties to such tenancies and the establishment of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) to discharge a range of functions relating to these matters.

Given the institutional arrangements in place to deal with dispute resolution in relation to both private and social housing, I have no plans for the establishment of any other bodies to carry out functions in these areas.