Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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636. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware that some Teachtaí Dála and local authority councillors are directors of approved housing bodies in County Kildare and directly responsible for offering houses to persons; and if he believes that this is acceptable and transparent. [46131/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) consist mainly of voluntary or co-operative organisations registered under the Companies Acts, societies registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts and/or Trusts incorporated under the Charities Acts. They are independent bodies and the appointment of members to the Boards of AHBs is a matter for the bodies themselves.

Notwithstanding that, the Government has committed to bringing greater transparency and improved governance to the AHB sector.  Last year, my Department established an interim Regulation Committee under the auspices of the Housing Agency and supported by a Regulation Office within the Agency. The committee was set up to oversee implementation of the voluntary regulation code for AHBs, published in July 2013, and to advise on statutory regulation. To date, over 210 AHBs have signed up to the voluntary code.

Under the code, AHBs that have signed up to regulation are assessed in terms of their governance, financial viability and their performance as regards their landlord functions. There are specific requirements in relation to AHBs having conflict of interest polices in place which should ensure potential conflicts are raised and that there is a protocol for addressing them.

While the code is voluntary at present, the development of a statutory regulatory framework has commenced with the General Scheme of the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Bill 2015 approved for drafting by Government in September of this year. Pre-legislative scrutiny of the proposed Bill took place recently. A public listing of all the AHBs signed up to voluntary regulation can be found at .