Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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862. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the Programme for Government Commitment to establish statutory timelines for the RTB and enhanced enforcement powers granted to the RTB will be implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30629/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Recent Governments have introduced significant changes to the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 - 2024 (RTA) in the past number of years to enhance tenancy protections and increase the powers of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

The RTB was established as a quasi-judicial independent statutory body under the RTA to regulate the rental sector; provide information to tenants and landlords; maintain a national register of tenancies; resolve disputes between tenants and landlords; impose sanctions for improper conduct by landlords; undertake research; and inform policy development. My Department continues to work with the RTB to ensure it is sufficiently resourced to deliver on its expanded mandate.

The Programme for Government - Securing Ireland's Future, published on 23 January 2025, commits to continuing its support for renters and landlords. This includes measures to protect renters and landlords from abusive practices by enhancing the enforcement powers of the Residential Tenancies Board and establishing statutory deadlines for dealing with complaints.

As set out below, the time to process a dispute case has fallen significantly in 2024 to reflect a more stable demand for the RTB's dispute resolution service. With the support of my Department, better resources have been secured for the RTB's dispute resolution service, which now includes an early intervention service that prevents disputes requiring a formal resolution process.

On foot of these new resources, the average time in 2024 to resolve a mediation case was 7 weeks (10 weeks in 2023); an adjudication case was 17 weeks (23 weeks in 2023); and a Tribunal case was 15 weeks (29 weeks in 2023).

The RTB released a pilot of its new online Dispute Resolution Centre for final testing by stakeholders in May 2025. The pilot is ongoing and the RTB aims to release the new platform for use by all customers by the end of Q3 2025. The new platform will enhance RTB customer experience by allowing customers to apply, pay for and manage their dispute cases through one online portal.

A decision on establishing statutory timelines for the RTB will be taken once planned efficiency measures and improved customer services are rolled out and bed down. My Department and the RTB are working together to ensure that adequate resources and legal powers are provided to optimise its dispute resolution and sanctioning processes.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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863. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the Programme for Government Commitment to establish a cost rental version of the repair and lease scheme will be implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30630/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Repair and Lease Scheme is one of a number of Government initiatives aimed at tackling vacancy in our housing stock. Under this scheme, an interest-free loan of up to €80,000 per home is available to bring properties which have been vacant for over one year up to the current rental standards. The renovated home is then leased to the Local Authority or to an Approved Housing Body to provide social housing, with the loan repaid as an offset in the lease payments made to the property owner.

Further details on the Scheme are available on my Department’s website at the following link;

While Repair and Lease has so far been used for social housing, there is a commitment in the new Programme for Government published in January 2025, Securing Ireland’s Future, to introduce a version of the scheme for Cost Rental homes on a pilot basis. My Department is currently examining that commitment, its implementation, and the potential timeframe.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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864. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when the Programme for Government Commitment to launching a new, comprehensive starter-home programme across the public, private and approved housing body, AHB, sector will be realised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30631/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the Programme for Government, the Government committed to launching a new, comprehensive Starter Home programme across the public, private and AHB sector, which promotes home ownership and secures long-term rental tenures for young people and fresh start applicants.

The Programme for Government sets out that the Starter Home programme will support and deliver an average of 15,000 starter homes per year, including through the First Home Scheme and the Help to Buy support, in addition to other affordable purchase and cost rental schemes.

Government is fully committed to delivering affordable housing at scale, and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. The Government’s ambition is to build on the progress made to date under Housing for All, and deliver over 300,000 homes in the period from 2025 to 2030 equating to an annual average of over 50,000 homes per year, building up to 60,000 in 2030.

Work on translating these revised national housing targets into local, tenure specific targets is ongoing and at an advanced stage. This work is expected to be completed in the coming months and will be published after the work under the revised national planning framework is complete.

These tenure specific targets will both inform the revision of existing affordable housing targets and further inform the development of the Starter Home Programme supports set out in the Programme for Government which will be set out in the new Housing Plan.