Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Vacant Housing Refurbishment Bill 2017: Discussion (Resumed)

1:30 pm

Mr. Alan Baldwin:

On our concerns around how the Bill might compromise safety, to be fair, there was a misunderstanding on my part around what level of technical information was going to be submitted. I genuinely had a concern that we were going to create a scenario where only the minimum information would be submitted which might give rise to creating health and safety issues down the line, a reduction in standards, etc. In fairness to the committee, it has clarified that distinctly today on what the expectation is.

Likewise, if we are going to adhere to certain standards - we expect to see the technical guidance documents being amended and updated - it will reduce any concerns we had in terms of any reduction in living standards. This was how the submission was framed. It was around not knowing the level of technical information could be submitted.