Tom Brabazon (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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60. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps his Department is taking to strengthen local authorities capacity to respond to tenancy management issues and anti-social behaviour. [65642/25]

Tom Brabazon (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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83. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the mechanisms by which local authorities can address anti-social behaviour in social housing tenancies. [65641/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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In the first instance, my colleague, the Minister for Justice has overall responsibility for policy and legislation relating to serious incidents of anti-social behaviour through the criminal code which is enforced by An Garda Síochána.

Local authorities are, however, responsible under the Housing Acts for the management and maintenance of their housing stock and the management of their estates, including taking appropriate measures to counter anti-social behaviour.

The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997 was introduced to provide for a range of measures to assist local authorities and AHBs in addressing problems arising on their housing estates from serious anti-social behaviour. The 1997 Act was designed to assist local authorities discharge their housing estate management functions in a positive manner in conjunction with other initiatives to promote improved estate management while working towards the avoidance, prevention and abatement of anti-social behaviour. The 1997 Act also provides for the issuing of court orders to exclude a household member engaged in anti-social behaviour from the dwelling and, if appropriate, the estate in question, and empowers a local authority to refuse to allocate or sell a dwelling to a person engaged in anti-social behaviour.

Under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, all local authorities are required to develop anti-social behaviour strategies, to be updated every six years, that set out the measures that they have in place to prevent and reduce anti-social behaviour, and the actions that they are taking to counter anti-social behaviour.

Furthermore, the powers of local authorities were significantly enhanced by Part 2 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, which provides for the issuing of a tenancy warning requiring that tenants cease any anti-social activity. Part 2 of the 2014 Act also gives local authorities the power to recover possession of their dwellings from households in serious breach of their tenancy agreements, including engaging in anti-social behaviour.

A comprehensive suite of guidance documents and circulars have been prepared and circulated to the local authority sector to strengthen their capacity to respond to tenancy management issues and anti-social behaviour.