Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the witnesses. I have met several of them before. I think Mr. Fitzpatrick was once my local county manager or assistant county manager. I welcome their comments, particularly what Ms Ní Fhloinn. If I buy a property that is built by a member of Mr. Fitzpatrick’s association I presume that what I am getting is as permitted. Instead of outsourcing the responsibility to Tom, Dick or Harry, whoever that might be, whether the local authority or the fire expert, all the liability should rest on the association or the professional who signs it for the association.

Part of that is how the membership is policed. Has the witness ever kicked any member or any builder out of the Construction Industry Federation? People would go to a member of that association in the belief that they would meet certain standards. How does the witness exclude members from his association? Has that ever been done?

It has been suggested that part of the solution is that builders should provide a significant fund available to meet scenarios where people avoid their responsibility or go bankrupt. A builder can be here one day and gone the next. The Construction Industry Federation should have a significant part to play in assuring and funding the things that have to be done.

To return to the role of local authorities, I may be misquoting the witness but he said at the beginning that there was a lack of supervision during the boom. Is that a fair summary of what was said? It was implied that there was a lack of supervision during the construction period and that local authorities were not doing their job. If that is what the witness said I would agree with that. They were not doing their job. Huge fees were charged for planning permission and yet, in terms of numbers, there was a total lack of professional people within the local authority to do the work that needed to be done. Much of the infrastructure that was built above and below the ground was very poor. As Eamon O'Boyle said, much of it is unknown but it is out there. We do not know where it is. The witness was suggesting a series of audits based on the perceived high risk of fire hazards, for example, in certain types of construction. I would like to think that whatever report this committee comes up with would put the onus back on the Construction Industry Federation, and particularly the builders. Where does the Construction Industry Federation stand on those matters, what is it doing about it, and what has been done up to now to protect consumers? Most people who buy a house are in hock for the rest of their lives. They buy innocently and in good faith, buying houses from planning permission. In many cases that is exactly what they get, but in many cases they do not.