Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for reminding me that the provision was not just about building standards in terms of energy use it was also about such issues as the number of car parking spaces, the size of apartments and the basic fabric of the building. Whatever one's views on the specifics I clearly believe the then Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, was wrong to reduce the standards at that time. Fundamentally, it is a race to the bottom which will cost us in the long run. We are setting up an independent regulator and a process to encourage councillors. That legislative diktat from 2008 goes against that completely. The measure is fairly sweeping and does remove in a significant way the ability of councillors to innovate, as in the example I outlined. One does want to encourage people to have a race to the top and to have some flexibility in that regard. If we are going to set up a regulatory system the Minister must give councillors some encouragement to be innovative and to set local standards that are appropriate to an area. It was a case of a legislative hammer striking a small nut. The provision goes against the spirit of this legislation and it should be removed. Whatever one's views on apartment sizes, it is a very strong legislative tool that was introduced to crack a nut in Dún Laoghaire and elsewhere that is not in tune with the spirit of the legislation.