Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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717. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the CEO of the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority will be appointed as per SI No. 188 of 2020; the process for the appointment; the expected impact of the appointment on the sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10383/20]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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As set out in the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness (Action 2.15) it has been an objective of my Department to establish a statutory Regulator to oversee the effective governance, financial management and performance of voluntary and co-operative housing bodies and to transition from the current voluntary regulatory environment.

The legislative basis for statutory regulation, the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019, was signed into law on 23 December 2019 and preparatory work is currently underway to establish the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (the Regulator).

The Act provides that the Regulator shall appoint the chief executive officer from recommendations made by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) after a competition has been undertaken in accordance with the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004.

Provision is also made for the appointment of a chief executive designate, by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, in advance of the establishment of the Regulator from recommendations made by PAS after a competition has been held. If a chief executive designate is appointed, that person will be appointed chief executive on the establishment of the Regulator.

PAS launched the advertising campaign for the position of Chief Executive Designate / Chief Executive Officer (Principal Officer) of the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority on 5th June 2020 (more detail is available on www.publicjobs.ie). The closing date for applications is 25th June 2020 and it is anticipated that it will take a further nine weeks to go through the selection procedures before a suitable candidate is selected.

The appointment of a chief executive designate will give confidence to the sector that preparation for a statutory framework is well underway. The appointment of a chief executive designate will allow for preparatory work to be carried out on setting up the office of the Regulator. This will ensure that the Regulator, when established, will have the necessary resources to operate effectively and efficiently in line with their functions as set out in the Act.

The statutory regulatory framework will provide further assurances to investors, tenants, the Government and to the sector itself that social housing providers operate in a well-regulated and stable environment.