Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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259. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will implement a local government direct contact email address for Members of the Oireachtas (details supplied) in view of the fact that many Members have questions about housing and homelessness and the difficulty of getting comprehensive and timely information from local authority management; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52152/17]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Local Government Act 2001 (Section 237A) Regulations 2003 set out statutory provisions for local authorities and their dealings with members of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The Regulations provide that each local authority must deal with requests for access to information by Oireachtas members "as expeditiously as may be and in accordance with a proper level of customer service". In this regard, local authorities are required to put in place arrangements to ensure that systems, procedures and time frames equivalent to those used by them in relation to correspondence from local authority members also apply in respect of parliamentary representatives.

Local authorities are independent statutory bodies. It is a matter for individual local authorities to decide the specific measures to be put in place to satisfy their statutory obligations under the Regulations.