Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 6, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:

""grandfather clause" means the provisions of this Act (principally section 20) which enables a person to be registered as an architect based on training acquired by practical means;".

In the interest of brevity I shall not repeat the arguments I have made elsewhere but this amendment is tabled at the request of a group of people who feel exposed and vulnerable because they may not have the necessary formal academic training certificates or qualifications but have a lifetime of experience which, in some cases, may be more valuable than theoretical academic work. They fear that if they are to be assessed further in the process of the administration of this legislation when it becomes law, that training would be deemed by some assessors to be training that took place in a classroom or under the umbrella of a course or institute.

The grandfather clause here explicitly proposes to mean "as an architect based on training acquired by practical means". This group exists, is earning its living and will not be replicated so this amendment does not leave a door open for a new generation of people to come in by the same means because registration will cover those people.

I ask the Minister of State to reconsider this seriously. It is a definition clause that applies later. I have been through the Bill with my legal advisers and believe this clause will provide considerable comfort for people who do not know whether they will be able to come through the process of registration. They have fears for their livelihood that nobody else shares.

To refuse this would verge on being unconstitutional, because a group might find its lifetime's experience and livelihood affected, through no fault of its own but because of a technical adjudication by somebody more academically orientated. It is deliberately phrased as a grandfather clause because it will tidy itself up, so to speak. That may not be an elegant phrase but the Minister of State knows what I am trying to say. I urge the Minister of State to consider this.

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