The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien TD welcomes the appointment of Niall Byrne as Director of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB)

·         Mr. Byrne will take up the position of Director with the RTB from today, 24 January 2022
Niall Byrne is a committed public servant with a record of achievement in a range of relevant roles, including at chief executive officer level.  Over the last 12 years he has worked in the regulatory field where he has made a significant impact in establishing new regulatory functions and in implementing change, bringing new thinking to bear on existing regulatory processes.
Over the past five years Mr. Byrne has been Registrar & Chief Officer of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) where he has been responsible, under the auspices of a 21-member Council/Board, for the regulation of the profession of pharmacy as well as the registration and inspection of retail pharmacies. Prior to joining PSI, Mr. Byrne was seconded to the Public Appointments Service as Head of State Boards and Corporate Services.
Commenting, Minister O’Brien said:
“The RTB has experienced significant and rapid change, both internally and externally, over the last number of years. Legislative changes have been made by Government and these amendments have expanded the RTB’s mandate and added to the complexity of its operations over the past five years.
“In addition to the core functions of registering tenancies, processing tenancy disputes and establishing Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs), since 2019, the RTB has taken on additional responsibility for registration of tenancies related to Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs), Student Specific Accommodation (SSA), while also establishing a new Investigations and Sanctions regime. The Government’s recently launched Housing for All plan places additional emphasis on the essential role of the RTB. Mr. Byrne is set to bring a wealth of experience and knowledge from his career to inform his stewardship of the RTB during this critical stage,” he said.
The Minister also extended his sincere thanks to Padraig McGoldrick for his excellent work and dedication as interim Director for the past two years, “These past two years have been made particularly difficult for the private rental sector due to the Covid19 pandemic. During this time the RTB, under the directorship of Padraig, has worked tirelessly with my Department to ensure that those tenants adversely affected have been protected. I would like to thank Padraig most sincerely for his commitment to achieving this and wish him all the best going forward,” he concluded.