John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assume the witnesses would dismiss the assertion that a pragmatic approach may be taken by one inspector and not by another. The problem with something not being black and white, notwithstanding the document asking for a pragmatic approach to be taken on an older building, is one fire inspector could be of a view to work with people to do this, but another fire inspector could say, "No, we want X, Y and Z". The difficulty for a builder in that circumstance is not just time, but money and financing. By the nature of a project on an older building, once the building is opened up, people do not know what you will be faced with. Cost is a big barrier. Everything has to be safe but the pragmatic approach the witnesses refer to is the most important thing when working with a builder on an older building, otherwise we will continue to have empty buildings forever. We can talk about 100,000 units until the cows come home but they will remain like that unless we are pragmatic in applying the regulations.