Mr. Hubert Fitzpatrick:

In response to Deputy Murphy some players in the industry did the industry no good. They damaged the reputation of the industry. We support the view that bad behaviour should be penalised. We worked with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to bring forward a new registration scheme for builders and contractors where we have established on a voluntary basis the Construction Industry Register Ireland, and it is the Government’s objective to put that scheme on a statutory footing in 2015. That is a credible registration process whereby experienced builders can be registered. Only those who meet their obligations in full, complete developments, comply with building regulations and are tax compliant will be able to build in the future. We fully support that. We want an industry that is regulated because the good players who comply with regulations should be able to build.

The Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 require owners to appoint competent builders, for appropriate design to be undertaken and for developments to be certified at completion stage by assigned certifiers. We fully supported the introduction of that legislation and we are happy to work with that regulation. We want to restore the good name and reputation of the industry so that only compliant builders can operate within the industry.