Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 May 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Building Regulations (Fire Safety): Discussion

Ms Sarah Neary:

A number of us around the table here are working on thematic group 2 of that, which is looking at regulations, standards and compliance, and a tender will go out shortly for an in-depth look at it. Other parts of Europe have produced extensive guidance on, for example, cross-laminated timber, and that is required to be applied to the Irish conditions. We need safe buildings - we all agree on that - particularly with regard to fire safety when using combustible materials. Second, we want our buildings to perform in the Irish climate, and water-ingress protection and so on are vital. We have all been involved in other reports that have shown these things have not been done right in the past, and we want to make sure we have the guidance in place-----