Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)

I take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, on the elevation to his new role as Minister of State with responsibility for housing, urban renewal and developing areas and I wish him well. I thank the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, for his courtesy during Question Time, which was very much appreciated, and I also wish him well in his role as Minister for Education and Science.

The issue of pyrite in homes is a major one that has been raised with me as a representative of constituents on the north side of Dublin. Hundreds if not thousands of homes are affected and with the delay in testing by some builders and HomeBond, it is difficult to put a figure on the number of homes directly affected. The Minister has ignored this issue during the past year. He does not want to get directly involved, but he must intervene because hundreds if not thousands of young home owners are directly affected. Some of them cannot sell their homes due to negative equity. Furthermore, they cannot live in their homes. The Minister must take direct responsibility for this issue. Hopefully, now that we have a new Minister of State with responsibility for housing, he will have a fresh perspective on this issue and will be able to give a commitment to reconsider it.

What new measures will the Minister put in place in terms of the building regulations to ensure that an issue such as this one will never happen again, that there no longer will be self-regulation of building standards and that regulation and certification will be undertaken by local authorities?

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