The Minister for Justice and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, announced today the establishment of a new property database reflecting market trends and house prices.

Mr Ahern said statutory responsibility for publishing property sales prices would be allocated to the Property Services Regulatory Authority which is based in Navan, Co Meath.

The minister said he would table amendments to this effect to the Property Services (Regulation) Bill 2009 - which will establish the Authority on a statutory basis - during the next Dail session, and would also bring forward any necessary amendments to the Data Protection Acts to facilitate the publication of sale price data by the Authority.

The minister said that his proposals would give effect to a commitment in the renewed Programme for Government to facilitate publication of property price data in order to improve market transparency and early detection of market trends.

The minister said: "I am very aware of the need for reliable and up to date data on house prices and other property. The Property Services Regulatory Authority will be in a position to ensure timely publication of this data as soon as the legislation is enacted later this year".

The minister added that, in accordance with the Programme for Government, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government would create and maintain a house price database in which the details of residential and commercial property sales will be maintained for statistical purposes.

- IRISH INDEPENDENT, Online Editors