Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to make similar points. Of the whole Bill, this is the area that I have the biggest issues with. My amendment is slightly different in that it looks to remove a number of the potential non-State bodies that this could be applied to. It as not as specific as Deputy Ó Broin's amendment is, although his suggestion that this would be a function for the NBCO is a very good one. The NBCO needs to be beefed up into a national building control authority, like the Food Safety Authority, and given similar powers. I do not see any reason that this would not be done straightaway. This is no disrespect to the CIF, but it is very specifically a lobby group for the industry. Therefore, if we want to have public confidence in this registration body, it is very important that it is not, as this legislation allows, run by industry lobby groups. That is flaw in the legislation. It should be a State agency.

Huge distress has been caused by building defects and I know we all have these issues in our own constituencies. Priory Hall is in mine, and the family of Fiachra Daly is in my area and I know them well. For us not to do this as well as we possibly could do it, in terms of establishing independence, does not make sense. I would strongly urge the Minister of State to accept our amendments on this. The NBCO would be the right place for this and it needs to be beefed up into a national building control authority. That is the other piece of the jigsaw that would go well with register, that is, if we had a statutory national building control authority. The Minister has indicated that he is working on legislation on that, which is positive. This definitely should be a function of that agency.