Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The clerk of works is ensuring the work continues. Obviously, there is vigilance. If there is a good clerk of works on site, he or she will be taking photographs and doing all the necessary work. In the past two years, I was speaking to the clerk of works on a school project in Donegal. He was telling me that every day he was on site he was taking photographs and being vigilant. The work can be done at clerk of works level but the clerk of works is not responsible for certification. It is still a matter of self-certification from the point of view of the contractor, designer or architect.

Deputy Catherine Martin made a suggestion on learnings from the investigation. Deputy Burton asked whether there will be an inquiry. There has to be an inquiry, in whatever form. I will be happy to pursue this to determine what we can learn from it, even regarding the period after 2014. The Deputy also asked about the certificates of completion and compliance. At every stage, responsibility for compliance rests with the contractor of the design team. This is where responsibility for the certification of compliance lies. Certification of completion occurs when the project is completed within a certain period. The Department has a role in that regard.

We all heard about Ardgillan college and its defects at the same time. Deputy Thomas Byrne referred to the fire assessment, boiler house and toilets. At no time were any of the fire safety assessments pointing to structural issues. In Ardgillan, a fire safety assessment concerning the cavity wall resulted in officials from the Department being alerted. They put a team in place to explore further whether there are structural issues. At no time during all the fire assessments was there any indication that there were defects, such as the lack of wall ties or the inner timber relief not being joined properly to the steel structure. The weaknesses came to my attention and that of the Department only when the wall opening in Ardgillan happened on the Friday in question.