Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

649. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total annual budget provided to the residential tenancies board in each of the years 2015 to 2024. [17615/25]

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

650. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the total staff count at the residential tenancies board in each of the years 2015 to 2024. [17616/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 649 and 650 together.

The Residential Tenancies Board, (RTB), was established as a quasi-judicial independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2024 to regulate the rental sector; provide information to tenants and landlords; maintain a national register of tenancies; resolve disputes between tenants and landlords; and conduct research and provide information to inform policy.

My Department does not hold the details sought. However, arrangements have been put in place to facilitate the provision of information by State Bodies to members of the Oireachtas. The RTB has set up a dedicated email address for this purpose and may be contacted at OireachtasMembersQueries@rtb.ie to establish the extent to which it may hold the information sought.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

651. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of private rented accommodation inspections that were carried out by all local authorities in each of the past five years and to date in 2025; the number of inspections in which further enforcement action was taken in all local authorities in each of the past five years and to date in 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17632/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 and specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and electrical supplies. These Regulations apply to all properties let or available for let. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with the standards set down in the Regulations.

Responsibility for the enforcement of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 in the private rental sector rests with the relevant local authority.

Failure to comply with the minimum standards can result in penalties and prosecution. Local authorities can serve Improvement Notices and Prohibition Notices on landlords who breach the minimum standards regulations. An Improvement Notice sets out the works that the landlord must carry out to remedy a breach of the regulations.

The Government is committed to ensuring that a stock of high quality accommodation is available for those who live in the private rented sector. A total of €10.5 million in Exchequer funding is being made available by my Department to local authorities this year to help them meet their private rental inspection targets. The number of rental inspections conducted by local authorities has increased significantly in recent years. Increasing from an average of 20,000 a year in the period 2005 to 2017 to over 49,000 in 2022, over 63,500 in 2023, and an all-time-high of over 80,000 in 2024.

Annual data in respect of the level of inspections and enforcement actions carried out and legal actions initiated by each local authority is available on my Department's website at www.gov.ie/en/publication/da3fe-private-housing-market-statistics/. Inspection data for 2025 is not yet available. It is expected that annual inspection data in respect of 2024 will be published shortly on the website.