I am informed by the Garda authorities that all acts of a criminal nature are dealt with appropriately under the relevant legislation.
Strong provisions are in place to combat anti-social behaviour. The Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 modernised the law in this regard. A range of provisions including the Intoxicating Liquor Acts 2003 and 2008 and the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 2003 provide the Gardaí with powers to address public order problems and anti-social behaviour related to the misuse of alcohol. The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 imposes minimum statutory obligations on landlords and tenants of private residential tenancies. Tenant obligations under the Act include an obligation not to engage, or allow visitors to engage, in anti-social behaviour. The Act also imposes an obligation on landlords to enforce the tenant obligations.
There is provision in the Act for third parties who are adversely affected by a failure on the part of a landlord to enforce tenant obligations to refer a complaint to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) in accordance with the procedures in the Act. Since December 2004 all privately-rented properties must be registered with the PRTB. It is possible to check if a property is registered by contacting the PRTB.
Where incidents of anti-social behaviour occur on private property the provisions of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 are applicable. The remedies available under the Act are civil in nature. These include those under section 108 which provides for noise as a nuisance and the remedies available to aggrieved parties. The Act provides for any person, or group of persons, to seek an order in the District Court to have noise giving reasonable cause for annoyance abated. The procedures involved have been simplified to allow action to be taken without legal representation.
There is a commitment in the programme for Government to introduce comprehensive legislation to address noise nuisance. The General Scheme of a Noise Nuisance Bill was brought to Government by my colleague the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and approved in May 2009. It is intended that the new legislation will take a more integrated approach to noise nuisance and strengthen existing local authority powers, including through the introduction of a system of fixed payment notices in relation to noise nuisance offences. Codes of practice for domestic situations will also be developed.