Mr. John Bailey:

I believe we are ad idemon most items. It is a very good idea to have a full design completed before we get to site. That does not happen at the moment because there are cost implications, and detailed design tends not to get done until statutory approvals have been obtained. The Deputy mentioned an analogy between the authorised person and an assigned certifier. We have very strong reservations about the position of assigned certifiers at the moment. The reason for that is that we are not jacks of all trades. I am a very specialist structural engineer and I am simply not competent to look at an electrical design or heating and ventilating. Therefore, to ask a single assigned person - the assigned certifier - to sign off on all aspects of those technologies is not realistic at all. We feel that if that was to be done for authorised persons they should be split into specialties, the same way as engineering and architecture are.

This Bill has many good points, particularly the idea that everything is signed off through a one-stop shop and having designed completed before getting to site. They are no-brainers. In fact, we would like to see those aspects of the Bill extended to all construction projects in the State. We certainly agree that independent inspection, and indeed independent assessment of the designs before commencement, is a no-brainer as well.