FORMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE of Dublin City Council (DCC) Owen Keegan is to take the top job at the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) on an interim basis. 

As first reported by The Business Post, Keegan will take up the role from 26 February. 

Keegan retired from DCC in September of last year after 10 years at the helm of the council. 

A spokesperson for Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien told The Journal that the Minister has been advised by the board of the RTB that it has agreed to appoint Keegan as an interim director until a permanent director is found. 

Keegan will replace Niall Byrne who stood down as RTB director in January.

Keegan’s time as head of DCC coincided with numerous controversies for the council.

In 2019, remarks he made were heavily criticised by homeless service providers and politicians after he said people may be reluctant to leave homeless services in Dublin because they were “an attractive” option.

In 2021 he also courted controversy when he suggested that “well-intended” homeless volunteers are sustaining people sleeping in tents on the streets of the capital.

That same year Keegan was forced to issue an apology for using sarcasm in a letter to the President of UCD students’ in relation to student accommodation.

The apology was made after a protest outside Dublin City Council offices calling for his resignation.

The RTB is the independent public body that is responsible for registering tenancies and regulating the residential rental sector in Ireland. 

The RTB itself has also faced criticism in recent times, largely over issues with its data collection. 

In October of last year, The Journal reported on a discrepancy between the Central Statistics Office and the RTB, with the statistics agency counting approximately 84,000 more homes in the private rental market than the RTB.