Mr. Maurice Buckley:

The point regarding boil notices and boiling water is a separate issue that deals with the quality of the incoming water supply to the rising main. The risk of contamination we are speaking about is various chemicals and there is no guarantee that boiling the water would alleviate this problem were it to exist. To take the broader point on the huge range of heating systems, much technology is involved in every aspect of a modern house and, as the Deputy rightly said, insulation has changed. In the world of standards, we are working very hard at European level and being part of the big European system gives Ireland an advantage with regard to keeping up with all of the changing technologies and having proper standards reflecting the various products and how they are applied. Approximately 600 or 700 standards are related to the construction products regulation alone, never mind the application of these. It is tricky to keep these up to date all of the time. We can do this as members of the EU.

The standards are available. Many of them are adopted and referenced in the building regulations, which makes them legally binding, to answer the earlier question. If a deficiency is found, it can be addressed immediately. Even if standards are not directly referenced in the building regulations, they are an indication of best practice. If a purchaser has a dispute with a developer and the situation is unclear, the courts in Ireland, as elsewhere, will reference the standards as an indication of best practice. If an installer works in a different way, the onus is very much on him or her to prove the system is safe. The standards are very valuable in this respect.

Even with the increasing sophistication and variations of systems, one must also look at the skills set and training of the people doing the insulation. This is why bit by bit all of the traditional trades are coming more and more under a structure. For a number of years, we have had very precise control systems for gas and electricity through the Register of Gas Installers of Ireland and other bodies. This is very accurately regulated and works well. We are not yet at this point for other trades, such as plumbing, which is where the standard reference, which began in 2010, comes into its own. It is the first attempt to pull together all of this technology to have a guidance base for the plumbing profession and apprenticeships.

It is great to have the support of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and SEAI, and we work very closely on this. The industry itself must also come along and must see the need to do this. Plumbing is a traditional trade, perhaps passed on from father to son. Society, in general, is trying to balance the need for a greater level of sophistication and controls with keeping the existing infrastructure in place and finding the right timing for this. These are all complex interrelated matters and any number of technical risks are involved. We do a lot of work on radon control, for example, which is an issue, insulation systems, as the Deputy mentioned, and water quality, where we have the issues raised in the petition. There are also concerns about legionnaires' disease and other impurities that can happen in the water system. All of these are covered by various aspects, and the task at hand is to get a balance between all of these.