THE OIREACHTAS last night rushed through legislation following the discovery that some Private Residential Tenancies Board dispute arbitrators were not properly appointed.
Under the board’s founding legislation, members of the disputes resolution committee should have three years left to serve on the full board before they are appointed.
However, a number of the members of the disputes resolution committee had less than three years to serve before their appointment, thus raising a legal question over 118 of their judgments.
In the Dáil, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said it was important not to have the committee’s rulings left “open to legal challenge”, even though there was no question about the competence and professionalism of the original decision.
“Having to revisit those cases on foot of a technical procedural error would not serve tenants, landlords or the taxpayer well,” said Mr Cowen, following the Cabinet’s decision to fast-track the emergency legislation’s passage through the Oireachtas.
The body that governs house and apartment rentals had asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley, for the legislation after the problem was discovered.
Last night, a Government spokesman said the organisation had carried out “a legal audit” to make sure there were no other inadvertent breaches of the legislation in its day-to-day operations.
Fine Gael spokesman Phil Hogan said the Minister, the board and the department had made “a complete mess” in overseeing appointments to the board. Last June, said Mr Hogan, the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, had made two appointments. When it was brought to his attention that he had appointed political representatives, who were not entitled to sit on the board, he had dismissed the claim.
