Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

Like Deputy Quinn, I wish to declare an interest. I am an architect and a member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland. My late father, Luan Cuffe, was the president of the institute some 44 years ago. I am sure he would have been delighted that this Bill has finally come to the floor of the Oireachtas. It may well have been on the list of promised legislation in Seán Lemass's time.

We need to build better buildings, instil public confidence in those who design our buildings and recognise the qualifications of such people. We should improve the quality of the buildings being built in Ireland, not only in terms of their energy performance and their accessibility but across the board. In 2006, we could and should be doing better in every sub-clause of the building regulations. We need to regulate the use of titles in the building industry. When one arranges to meet a doctor, one can reasonably expect the doctor has followed a recognised training course and achieved a professional qualification. Anyone — baker, butcher or candlestick maker — can put a sign on a door and claim to be an architect. With the greatest respect to those who work in the meat trade, many self-styled architects are butchers. We need to introduce regulations in this area.

We need to ensure that access to this industry is not restricted to Irish people. We should welcome the architects we have brought to these shores from South Africa, Poland, Slovenia, Italy and other countries by ensuring their qualifications, if they are valid, are recognised in this country. We also need to recognise those from Ireland who have demonstrated their ability, not through formal qualifications but through their work.

It is four years since the energy performance of buildings directive was approved by the European Parliament. Its provisions could have been brought into force here six weeks ago but the Government is dragging its heels on the issue. In the UK, any new building must have a high efficiency condensing boiler. In Denmark, water heaters that take the heat from the sun are commonplace in many buildings. In Germany, new buildings often have solar panels that generate electricity. Yet here in Ireland, one would be hard pushed to find insulation more than two inches thick for sale in many builders providers. At this rate, we will soon be the laughing stock of Europe.

It is crucial that the Government should pull up its socks in the areas of building control and regulation. It should do so sooner rather than later. Irish companies are manufacturing condensing boilers here but they are exporting them all to the UK because there is not yet a fully developed market for such boilers in Ireland. This is because the Minister is failing to bring our building regulations up to the standard that is currently mandatory in the UK. He should be doing much more to improve the building regulations in this area. He should encourage high performance timber buildings, make condensing boilers mandatory and promote the use of green cement. He could do much in this area and we are waiting for action from him. At a time when the building industry has added one third of our building stock in the residential sector in less than a decade, we are missing a golden opportunity.

This matter is just not about warmer homes, it is also about fuel poverty and improving the quality of life for those on lower incomes. Grants were provided in Scotland 15 years ago to make buildings weatherproof and watertight but we are still waiting for something similar in Ireland. There are no grants available at present for green energy solutions such as heat pumps, solar panels and so on. An announcement was made but we are still waiting for something to be implemented.

These policies are necessary not only at local level to make homes warmer, they are also required in the global context in light of the issues of climate change and peak oil in respect of which action must be taken. We need a radical response and that should be led by the Minister. We want to see energy labels now on all new buildings and on building leases. Such labels appear on fridges and they must be placed on buildings. We want to see Sherry Fitzgerald and Lisney being required to print the energy performance of the buildings they are selling in their advertisements. I do not see any sign of this in the Bill. These are the innovative measures that would bring home to people that there is a need to improve thermal performance, construct better buildings and take action.

We also need to ensure that new buildings are accessible to all. Under Part M of the building regulations, all new houses built since 2001 are supposed to be accessible to those with disabilities. A recent study found that only 4% of new housing developments in Dublin were accessible to people with disabilities and that only 25% of one-off houses in rural areas were compliant with the building regulations. That is not good enough. It is not just a sad reflection on our society, it is also a sad reflection on the Minister. It happened on his watch and he is shutting the stable door long after the horse has bolted.

Deputy Catherine Murphy referred to the crucial area of enforcement but there is no sign of the resources to which she alluded in the last part of the explanatory memorandum. On 25 October 2005, I asked the Minister if he had any meaningful data on the implementation of the building regulations. All he could state was that there were 41 prosecutions in 2004. There are 80,000 new homes built every year but there were only 41 prosecutions last year. I would like to think that the picture is rosy but I do believe that to be the case. The Minister needs to give clout, momentum and impetus to enforcement. There seems to be a two-tier system involving those who comply with the law and those who do not. There is little chance of the latter being caught at present.

The Bill goes some way to providing for proper enforcement but funding will be required. There is also a need for significant penalties for those who breach the law. In addition, provision must be made regarding the power to strike off the register those who are signing off on buildings that do not meet the code. I have no doubt that there are people signing off on buildings that do not meet the building regulations but, under the current regime, there is little chance that they will be caught. The Bill resembles the Minister: it talks the talk and it is full of good intentions but the devil is in the detail. The Minister will be obliged to show substance rather than style in terms of its delivery.

There is a view abroad that the Minister is in bed with certain sections of the construction industry or that he is, at least, supping in the same tent. We need more than pillow talk on this issue, we need resolve and vision. Mediocrity has cost us dear.

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