Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 435: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the mechanisms available to the Private Residential Tenancies Board for enforcing determination orders; and if the PRTB is obliged and or has the authority to enforce such orders. [18791/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Sections 124 and 126 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 make provision for the enforcement of determination orders made by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB).

Under section 124 of the Act the Board or a party mentioned in a determination order, if satisfied that another party has failed to comply with one or more terms of that order, may make an application to the Circuit Court for an order directing the party concerned to comply with the term or terms concerned.

Under section 126 of the Act the Board may take criminal proceedings against a person who fails to comply with one or more terms of a determination order.

The Act does not oblige the PRTB to enforce determination orders. Instead, the enforcement of orders is an operational matter for the Board as an independent statutory body.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 436: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if a review of the Residential Tenancies Act is taking place; and his views on the progress of same. [18792/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the private rented residential sector. My Department conducted a review of the Act in 2009 with a specific emphasis on whether the Act best supports the PRTB's key functions and on whether legislative amendments would support either the achievement of additional operational efficiencies by the PRTB in the delivery of those functions or the broader good working of the private rented sector. The outcomes of the review were announced by my predecessor as Minister of State and, in April 2010, the Government approved the preparation of the Heads of a Bill to deliver on the review's recommendations.

I am at present evaluating the review recommendations, details of which are available on my Department's website at www.environ.ie, and associated legislative proposals and I intend to submit proposals in that regard to Government in the near future.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 437: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if additional resources can be administered to the Private Residential Tenancies Board; if its functions will be reviewed in view of the delays experienced by a person (details supplied) in Galway, who is in dispute with a tenant, has received no rent for their property since May 2010, was prevented from taking court action until the PRTB had examined the matter and is now being advised, some 12 months later, by the PRTB to initiate the legal action the person wished to proceed with in the first place. [18794/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I have no function in the operational matters of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), an independent statutory body established under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2004, and cannot therefore comment on the specifics of any individual case.

The Act regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the private rented residential sector. My Department conducted a review of the Act in 2009 with a specific emphasis on whether the Act best supports the PRTB's key functions and on whether legislative amendments would support either the achievement of additional operational efficiencies by the PRTB in the delivery of those functions or the broader good working of the private rented sector. The outcomes of the review were announced by my predecessor as Minister of State and, in April 2010, the Government approved the preparation of the Heads of a Bill to deliver on the review's recommendations.

The over-holding of property and the non-payment of rent by tenants were identified in that review process among a range of issues that merited specific attention. I am at present evaluating the review recommendations and associated legislative proposals and I intend to submit proposals in that regard to Government in the near future.

The Board currently operates on a self-financing basis and does not receive direct Exchequer support. Instead, by way of Ministerial direction under section 137 of the Act, it is allocated a portion of the overall fee income received by the Board.