Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the NOAC representatives for coming in today and for their update. I have sat on the county council's order committee and I currently sit on the Oireachtas order committee. From seeing how these forums work, they are very important in the context of the democratic governance oversight that happens within them. From my experience of being on them, they are quite technical.

I have two questions based on Mr. McCarthy’s update. Some of the answers have been covered, but I will go at them again anyway. The first is on inspections. While our focus here in the midst of the housing crisis is to increase output, we need to ensure existing housing stock meets quality standards. We can all agree it is unacceptable that, in 2021, 90% of inspected dwellings by 23 local authorities were found to be non-compliant with standards regulations. It is clear we have a problem and a serious issue with housing quality standards.

I am not sure if this is within NOAC’s remit but has it looked into the feasibility of an independent inspection body like HIQA instead of the local authorities that, as has been said, are overstretched? From NOAC’s data, do the local authorities have sufficient resources and staffing to undertake those inspections?