Mr. John Barry:

I will deal with Deputy Ó Broin's question about whether any of the 28 residential and seven non-residential buildings was causing concern.

A minority of those relate to cladding. Most of the others relate to building features or fire safety issues in buildings that were found before Grenfell Tower and are the sorts of things that can arise in buildings. If the Deputy is asking me if there is a concern that no building has been reported that is of such serious concern that the fire service has taken the view that occupation of that building should cease, it is perhaps worth saying that from the reports I hear from fire services, as far as we can tell, while I am not able to say that there is none in the country, I have no report of the specific type of cladding that caused concern with Grenfell Tower being present. I am not able to say there is none in the country but people do not seem to be finding it as part of this exercise. That is worth noting. While there is fire safety work to be done, there is no building that is the sort of concern the Deputy is asking me about.

On single dwellings and the exclusion in legislation, it is worth clarifying the particulars. I could characterise the legislation dealing with fire safety in buildings in two ways. The Building Control Act and the provisions under building regulations deal with the construction of buildings and their preparation for occupation. The Fire Services Act deals with the management of that building, its operation and provisions for fire safety during the occupation of that building. That second Act has an exclusion for houses occupied as single dwellings from those requirements and the powers of inspection and enforcement of fire services. There is not an exclusion, however, to construct dwelling houses to meet the requirements of building regulations in the first place.

With regard to fire safety in buildings, fire services do not have powers to require people to manage fire safety in their own homes. However, we have a significant communications exercise. Members will be aware that last week was fire safety week when we promote fire safety, fire safety awareness and fire safe behaviours in homes. We kick off a campaign at this time every year in which we emphasise the importance of installing and testing smoke alarms; dealing with obvious dangers in the home, including sources of ignition and smokers' materials; switching off electrical appliances and unplugging them at night; having a night-time routine; and having in place a plan in case of fire or alarm during the night or any time during the day to get family members safely out of a home, including those who may need assistance, such young, old and vulnerable members of the household. That is the sort of advice we give to householders about fire safety in houses and homes across the country. Given that last week was fire safety week, I am glad to have the opportunity to bring that forward. We constantly emphasise that the most important action householders can take for fire safety for families is to install a smoke alarm.