Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Labour)

The issue of substandard buildings, the lack of enforcement of standards by local authorities and the resulting tragedies like Priory Hall are now being blamed on poor regulation or poor enforcement, but I believe the real blame for this issue lies with the endemic and rampant corruption which infested the politics of the past among certain political parties. That corruption was not simply the corruption involving brown envelopes, but a more subtle corruption where wealth could influence access to politics, following significant donations to political parties. This could be justified in some form of obscene thatcherite fairytale where some people believed that wealth would trickle down to the community. Therefore, they believed in their folly that the interests of the wealthy few had to be served at the expense of ordinary people, who now suffer the consequences of that philosophy.

Why are we 22 years late with the enactment of this legislation? It would have made mandatory submissions to the building control authority for certificates of compliance with building regulations. It is important for us to believe that developers who were involved in this in the past had done a very good job in preventing the enactment of this Bill. I recently said that we have to impose a philosophy in this House of justice and fairness in the context of the rules of engagement of government. It should be intolerable for any Minister to have any dealings with those named in tribunal reports or involved in corrupt practices.

Any developer or builder who has been found to have failed to meet standards laid out in the Building Control Act 2007, or those who fail to meet the welcome amendments proposed by the Minister, should be blacklisted. No company associated with them should ever be awarded a public contract. Our citizens need to see justice in this respect. They need to be reassured that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated, and they need to see that there is a layer within society that will no longer live with the consequences of the lack of accountability, and that nothing less than best practice should apply to enforcement in this area.

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