Vol. 568 No. 5
440 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to difficulties being experienced by local authorities with judges reluctant to implement updated legislation relating to tenants engaged in anti-social behaviour. [16831/03]
Local authorities are responsible under the Housing Acts for the management and maintenance of their housing stock, including addressing any problems arising on their housing estates from serious anti-social behaviour. The primary purpose of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997 is to provide for a range of measures to assist housing authorities in this regard. One of the main provisions of the 1997 Act enables a local authority tenant, or the local authority itself in certain circumstances, to apply to the District Court for an excluding order against an individual member of the household who is believed to be engaging in anti-social behaviour.
Apart from collecting, on an annual basis in arrears, some general statistics on the operation of the Act, my Department would have no information on the day-to-day use of the provisions of the Act by local authorities. My Department is aware, however, of a number of instances where applications brought by tenants in a particular local authority area have been denied by the courts. I understand the local authority concerned is considering the position, including the possibility of using the power in the 1997 Act to bring applications directly to the courts itself.
