Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1720. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the estimated costs of establishing a monitoring body which will conduct regular inspections of private rental units to ensure compliance with local and national standards; and further to the costs of establishing this body, the potential costs of running it for one year. [44347/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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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.

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.

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 €10m in Exchequer funding was provided by my Department in 2024 to local authorities to help them meet their private rental inspection targets. €10.5m is being made available this year.

This subvention does not fully fund local authorities' inspection regimes. It is a contribution towards the costs incurred in meeting their rental inspection obligations, with the balance of costs met from their own resources.

The costs of establishing and running a separate private rental inspection monitoring body has not been determined.