Mr. Peter Hynes:

We aspire to better than a ladder. We share the aspiration. It is a very important priority for local government to get people living back in our towns and villages. If we do not achieve repopulation, many of our smaller towns and villages will be on a downward spiral and it will not change any time soon unless initiatives like this take hold. We absolutely share the ambition and aspiration. If I understand what Deputy Casey said in his last contribution, the intent is that the processes of deliberation on fire certificate disability access and exempted development, which has by and large been simplified since February, would be dealt with within two weeks. That is an ambitious aspiration. I do not think it is realistic in any system to expect things to be that radically transformed. If the Bill was simply asking for the streamlining of systems to deliver those certificates as they stand in a timescale that is set, there may be a realistic deadline which we could discuss and agree and deliver on but what is set is set. If it is set at a week, we will endeavour to deliver. We would be happy to have that discussion. It is a bit like the health care system. The services delivered in ear, nose and throat care are radically different to the services delivered in cardiology care. Would we want the two combined if we had problems in both areas? The members can make their own choices on that. We would certainly welcome a discussion on it.

On the question of technical guidance documents for existing buildings, a great deal of progress can be made on it. We would certainly welcome the opportunity to input on it. There is always a balance between strict conformance with standards. When a standard is set, it is a standard; it is not a standard less 10% or 20% with the discretion left in the hands of the operative to make the call. It is a tricky balance. Technical guidance documents for existing buildings is an area where we could make some progress.

The transfer of liability for ongoing inspections to local authorities is quite a significant change from the current regime. It will have resource implications. If the resources are available it can be made to operate. If that is where the Bill takes us, we will obviously try to make that work.

While we share the ambition, we have concerns around the timelines that have been set. If the clarity that we have heard is that the same systems apply to more rigorous timelines, that certainly can be made to work and we would be happy to have an ongoing discussion on it.