Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I am not ruling out anything. The system has worked well in the past. We have had a lot of irresponsible building projects overseen by professions that we trusted. We asked them on behalf of the State to sign off on these developments, but we have seen some of the shoddy workmanship that has gone on. This has caused problems for the unfortunate residents who bought properties or are in social housing and who are caught up in this through no fault of their own. These are the professions that we all expected to be pillars of society, and we thought they would do the right thing by the citizens and by the State. I am not ruling out a return of the clerk of works system in order to ensure that the mandatory inspection regime I advocated earlier is properly enforced and implemented.

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