Mr. John Power:

To put our contribution into context, we all know the scale of and how critical the construction sector is to Ireland's economy. Engineers, and I am talking about qualified professional chartered engineers, are critical to the construction sector. However, all engineers involved in the sector - structural, civil and fire safety engineers - face a problem securing professional indemnity, PI, insurance. While I will focus today on the fire safety specialists where problems can result in catastrophe, unfortunately the problem is wider. We are not here to allocate blame but to help to find a solution. Without a solution, today's housing and other construction infrastructure projects will just get worse for everybody.

I thank the committee for the invitation to give evidence on the serious concerns and difficulties faced by engineering professionals in obtaining PI insurance in 2021. I am the vice president of Engineers Ireland and a chartered engineer. At 186 years old, Engineers Ireland is one of the oldest and largest representative bodies on the island of Ireland, with over 25,000 members. This membership, comprising third-level engineering graduates, incorporates all disciplines of the engineering profession in Ireland in consulting and contracting organisations, the public sector, semi-State bodies and educational institutes. Our members are organised into regional branches, engineering divisions and societies, including our fire and safety division.

A professional engineer offering a professional advisory certificate or opinion is required to hold PI insurance. The PI insurance issue is quite broad for engineering professionals and affects fire safety sign-off, procurement and structural sign-off. It is intended to protect professionals and their businesses in the event of a claim arising from a loss as a result of non-performance or negligence in the services provided. In addition, the policy can cover legal and other costs and expenses incurred in the defence of any claim, which can, in many cases, be a substantial portion of the overall costs in processing a claim. PI cover is also required for any work to existing buildings, including refurbishment, extensions and change of use.

An important difference between PI insurance and other insurance policies is that PI insurance is written on what is called a "claims made" basis. It is the policy in force at the time that the claim is made that deals with the claim rather than the policy in force at the time when the work was done. An example would be where a practice was asked to complete a project in 2016 but the client did not make a claim until 2021. As a result, it is the policy in force in 2021 that deals with the claim rather than the cover in place in 2016. Therefore, PI insurance is generally required to be kept in place for a number of years after the project's completion. That is an issue in itself. I will now hand over to Mr. Michael Lyons, chairperson of the Engineers Ireland fire and safety division and a chartered engineer.