Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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355. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will request the Residential Tenancies Board to review its examination of the Maynooth local electoral area report on rent pressure zones which showed that there were rent decreases in the first six months of 2016, which is an unlikely result and requires further examination; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9669/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 24 January 2017, in accordance with Section 24A of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended), the Housing Agency proposed that 15 Local Electoral Areas should be considered for designation as rent pressure zones. On foot of the proposal from the Housing Agency, again in accordance with the Act, I requested the Director of the RTB to make a report to me as to whether these areas met the criteria for designation as Rent Pressure Zones.

On 26 January 2017, I received a report from the RTB confirming that 12 out of the 15 Local Electoral Areas examined met the criteria and I made Orders designating those 12 areas as Rent Pressure Zones on 26 January 2017. The areas designated included the Local Electoral Areas of Naas, Celbridge-Leixlip and Kildare-Newbridge.

For an area to be designated a Rent Pressure Zone, it must satisfy the criteria set out in section 24A(4) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended):

(i) The annual rate of rent inflation in the area must have been 7% or more in four of the last six quarters; and

(ii) The average rent in the area in the last quarter must be above the average national rent in the last quarter.

In terms of the Local Electoral Area of Maynooth, the report received from the RTB indicated that while the average rent in the area was above the average national rent for the quarter, the annual rate of rent inflation in the area was greater than 7% in only three of the last six quarters. The requirement for designation is for the annual rate of rent inflation in the area to be 7% or more in four of the last six quarters. Therefore Maynooth did not meet both of the criteria set out in section 24A(4) of the Act and could not be designated as a rent pressure zone.

The reports received from the RTB in relation to the designation of rent pressure zones, including a table showing the results of the analysis carried out on the 15 proposed areas for designation, are available on the website of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) at the following link

I am fully confident that the RTB assessments are conducted in line with the legislation and accurately reflect the data gathered for compiling the quarterly Rent Index reports.

Under the Act, I have no further role or discretion in proposing areas for designation as Rent Pressure Zones or in deciding whether they should be designated. The designation process is independent and based on clear objective criteria and quantifiable evidence.

The Housing Agency will continue to monitor the rental market and may recommend further areas for designation. Where, following the procedures set out in the Act, it is found at a future date that additional areas meet the criteria, they will be designated as Rent Pressure Zones.