Residential Tenancies Board  recruiting a new director on salary of up to €178,000

Just 10 months into the job, Niall Byrne told an Oireachtas committee that the RTB faces issues with management, strategy, and resources.

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) is recruiting a new director who can earn a salary of up to €178k, to replace its outgoing director who is leaving after just two years in the top job.

The rental sector watchdog needs a new director, the equivalent of a CEO, with existing boss Niall Byrne due to leave this month. In November, a spokesperson for Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that “to be very clear”, the minister had not asked for Mr Byrne’s resignation.

Mr Byrne took over the RTB role from Padraig McGoldrick in January 2022 after spending five years as chief officer of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI).

Just 10 months into the job, Mr Byrne had told an Oireachtas committee that the RTB faces issues with management, strategy, and resources which has hampered the “small public body”.

He acknowledged issues in reported delays in responding to people’s queries and in landlords registering tenancies, saying that it was not acceptable.

Mr Byrne said the issues were “deep-seated”, with some relating to a new IT system not meeting the “requisite standard”.

“Unfortunately the situation that currently obtains is that many people are finding it difficult to deal with the RTB,” he said, adding that apologies had been made to those affected.

“I’m not criticising any of my colleagues — absolutely not. But you know, structure is very, very important and when the structure moves out of alignment with the needs of the environment ... well then difficulties do arise.

“I attribute some of the current problems to the organisation’s structure,” he said.

Mr Byrne again highlighted issues at a more recent Oireachtas committee hearing in October. He said: “I have apologised extensively to all stakeholder interest groups since last year. It is not part of my function or role to make people's lives a misery.

“I got one [report] just this week, and I said to my colleagues that I did not understand what was going on that this would still be happening, where a particular type of landlord wanted to register a number of properties and seemed to have got involved in an endless loop that was leading to intense frustration. We have since worked through that one and sorted it out.” 

For his successor, the salary scale for the job starts at €156,472, but rises to €178,995. According to the RTB’s annual report for 2022, the director received a remuneration of €139,816.

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The advert says: “As the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) continues to grow and transform, the board of the RTB are seeking a dynamic, committed and experienced person to be its next director.

“As director of the RTB, the person appointed will work with the board and staff to lead and manage the delivery of its strategic priorities and goals in addition to its varied legislative mandate.”

In a statement in November, a spokesperson for Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that he did not seek Mr Byrne’s resignation. The spokesperson said that Mr O’Brien would thank Mr Byrne for his years of service to the RTB and to discuss the transition arrangements in place pending the appointment of a new chief executive.