Ms Mair?ad Phelan:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chathaoirleach. It is the opening statement. The other is for reference only.

I am Mairéad Phelan and I am head of the National Building Control Office. I am here with my colleague, Mr. Richard Butler.

To set the scene, in 2019, the National Building Control Office, was set up as a specialist shared-service business unit hosted by Dublin City Council. The office provides oversight, support and direction for the development and standardisation of building control in the State. The office is also responsible for the national building control management system for the administration of building control in Ireland. There are approximately 158,000 users of that system with all the commencement notices, fire safety certificates, disability access certificates, etc., online managed through it.

In 2020, we were set up as the National Market Surveillance Office. This was also a specialist shared-services business unit hosted by Dublin City Council. The office, with the support of the national competent authorities, the Geological Survey of Ireland, GSI, and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, co-ordinates market surveillance of construction products activity in the 31 building control authorities, which are also market surveillance authorities.

The office develops and manages the implementation of, in consultation with all of the stakeholders, Ireland’s national market surveillance strategy. The first strategy we did was the national market surveillance programme 2021, which is published on the EU website. The 2022 national market surveillance strategy is also published. The links for them are provided in my submission.

An advisory committee with membership from the three regional building control authorities which represent all the local authorities in Ireland, the Construction Industry Council, the National Directorate Fire and Emergency Management, the Chief Fire Officers Association and the Department is chaired by Mr. Richard Shakespeare, who is the assistant chief executive of Dublin City Council, on behalf of the 31 chief executives and it manages the shared services offices.

The office, together with the 31 market surveillance authorities, supported by the competent authorities carry out reactive and proactive market surveillance under the European Union (Construction Products) Regulations 2013 in the State. These regulations prescribe the obligations on economic operators, the requirements for the marketing of construction products in the EU, and the market surveillance procedures to be followed and the powers conferred on building control authorities, which, as I have said, are the market surveillance authorities.

The primary purpose of the construction products regulation is to break down technical barriers to trade to ensure the free movement of construction products across member states. In my submission, I have given the committee a link to frequently asked questions on this.

It does this - my colleague from the Department has already referred to it - by setting out a system of harmonised standards. There are more than 450 of those standards; an agreed system of attestation of conformity and verification of constancy for each product family which my colleagues from the NSAI have spoken about; the framework of notified bodies; and the mandatory CE marking of construction products.

The construction products regulation was given effect in the State on 1 July 2013 with the result that each construction product, for which there is a harmonised standard, known as a hEN, or a European technical assessment in force, must be accompanied by: a copy of the CE marking, which enables construction products to move across the EU member states, avoiding new assessments and certifications so that it can be made available in any of the EU 27; a valid declaration of performance, DoP, which provides information on the performance obtained using the assessment methods provided by the applicable harmonised technical specification; and the instructions and safety information relating to the product.

In the context of construction products, market surveillance refers to the activities carried out and the measures taken by market surveillance authorities, of which there are 31 plus ourselves and the competent authorities, to ensure that construction products comply with the requirements set out in the construction products regulation and therefore do not endanger the health, safety or any other aspect of public interest protection.

It is important to note that given the commercial sensitivities that may be involved, it is incumbent on all market surveillance authorities to take reasonable measures to guarantee the confidentiality of the technical documentation that we look at and such other information as may be supplied to us as market surveillance authorities by an economic operator under these regulations to support the compliance of the product.

It is the responsibility of the economic operators, according to their respective role in the supply chain, to ensure compliance with the relevant legislation and to fulfil all appropriate conformity assessment obligations.

Market surveillance authorities are required to perform appropriate checks on the characteristics of products on an adequate scale, by means of documentary checks and, where appropriate, physical and laboratory checks and, when doing so, shall take account of established principles of risk assessment, complaints and other information including the national market surveillance strategy. Where economic operators present test reports or certificates attesting conformity issued by an accredited conformity assessment body, market surveillance authorities must take due account of such reports or certificates.

It is important to note that the market surveillance authority does not and should not issue a compliance statement which may be seen as endorsing a product. When assessing the compliance of a construction product, the market surveillance authority may choose to consider the relevant legislative requirements and do a full compliance assessment or a partial compliance assessment - that will depend on the risk assessment. We look at formal compliance, which is checking the administrative requirements, that is, documentation, markings, etc., and-or technical compliance, which is testing the essential characteristics for compliance.

Construction products may have a very different intended use in buildings or civil engineering works - it is important to recognise that - and they may fulfil different performance requirements. A construction product may be compliant with the requirements of the construction products regulations but may not satisfy the requirements of the building regulations, which mean it must "be fit for the use for which they are intended and for the conditions in which they are to be used". That is what was alluded to by my colleague here in the Department. Therefore, a responsibility lies with the project designer and end user to correctly prescribe the product to be used in the specific construction project and to the end user or purchaser so that the prescribed performance for the specific intended use is checked and incorporated in the design. What we are saying is that the end user must check the CE marking, the DoP and the safety information in use to ensure that the construction product is fit for the intended use. There is good guidance given by the Department in "A Guide to the marketing and use of Aggregate Concrete Blocks ...", which is on its website. It outlines for designers, builders and end users their responsibilities.

In Ireland, the economic operator must take into consideration the national provisions, that is, the standard recommendations to which we have already alluded. As part of our market surveillance strategy, we have looked at the construction products that relate to: standard recommendation, S.R. 16, that is, aggregates for concrete which are used in ready-mix concrete, concrete blocks, precast concrete lintels, floors, walls, etc.; S.R. 17, which is used in bituminous mixtures, such as aggregates for roads; S.R. 18, the aggregates for mortar, internal plastering and external rendering, and floor screeds; S.R. 21, other aggregates for use in civil engineering works which we looked at as well and which are the aggregates that are used for underfloor fill and for under roads and under footpaths; and S.R. 325, which is the bible in relation to the design of masonry structures in Ireland - the structures which are constructed of concrete, aggregate concrete blocks, concrete floors, lintels and anything that is made of concrete - it is the standard design for masonry in Ireland. Each individual construction product manufactured to a harmonised European standard has a specified threshold level of performance for a given essential characteristic of the product and these are set out in Annex ZA of each harmonised standard.

In the context of what I have spoken about so far, we have completed the national market surveillance programme 2021 and we are progressing the strategy for 2022.

I set out what we have done in the table on page 11. Overall, the office has: carried out inspections on 163 aggregate-related inspections and 58 reactive inspections; tested 150 samples of aggregate and aggregate-constituent products; issued 86 requests for information to economic operators; taken nine corrective actions in relation to all sorts of different products other than aggregates; recorded 71 inspections in the European Union information and communication system on market surveillance, ICSMS, which is the portal for the recording of inspections across the European Union; assessed 76 rapid exchange of information system, RAPEX, notices; and carried out the market surveillance audit in Donegal on foot of the request from the Minister.

The approach that we used is a good practice methodology set out by the European Union, and I have a link to that. We had some key learnings from our programmes and strategy so far, which are that this office needs to drive the promotion of compliance with construction products and continue to do what we are doing through industry engagement, education, enforcement and resourcing of the market surveillance of construction products in Ireland.

Mr. Butler and I are here to answer any questions.