Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to give support to the work of the Private Residential Tenancies Board in view of the legislative drive to increase their remit and workload. [5549/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants in the private rented residential sector. The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Act to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants in the sector.

The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012 is currently before the Oireachtas. It will, inter alia , extend the remit of the Act and of the Board to the approved housing body sector and will give legal effect to the administrative merger of the Rent Tribunal and the PRTB. It will also streamline and simplify aspects of the Act to assist the Board in meeting its service obligations and in addressing the additional demands associated with the proposed expansion of its remit.

Demand for the PRTB’s services has grown significantly in recent years reflecting the very sizable growth in the sector in the most recent intercens al period. While the PRTB is a self-financing bod , it is however necessary in the current constrained economic environment that it contribute s to the overall reduction in public expenditure, including in regard to numbers employed. This presents obvious challenges for the Board , which has responded by pursuing a range of outsourcing, shared service and other modernisation initiatives. Building on what has been achieved to date I am confident that the Board, in its future legislative context, will continue fully to discharge its statutory obligations in an independent, fair and efficient manner.

My Department continues to keep the resources available to the PRTB under close review and engages regularly with the Board on this and other matters.