Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

I do not understand how we can have improved inspection rates or performance against a backdrop of a public sector recruitment embargo and how the Minister can talk about pooling resources when those which exist are insufficient to do the tasks already on the shoulders of local authorities, never mind giving them more.

Where there is a conflict between what a competent professional is saying about works and what the council's architects and engineers are saying is adequate, how will it be reconciled under the new system of certification? Can the Minister give a guarantee that the standards which have been accepted of "substantial compliance", an incredibly vague phrase, will be terminology which will not be accepted? There needs to be total compliance. Where there are contradictory views how will the Minister reconcile them?

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