Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

The debate which I have listened to intently has shown the Building Control Act is robust, probably the most robust in Europe. The problem, however, lies with regulation, enforcement and the provision of resources to ensure the regulations are followed. This has been linked with the relationship between government and developers, light touch regulation and the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government taking the Clerk of Works out of the equation in the 1990s. This seeped into the merry-go-round which developed around the bubble of the building industry in the past 20 years. For Fianna Fáil to claim it is not part and parcel of it is cynical.

When I became a councillor in 2004, I recall seeing a plaque in Dublin City Hall, "Property has rights as well as responsibilities". Dublin City Council played a role in facilitating the property and building madness. A week after the 2007 general election a public meeting was called in Crumlin to highlight a new design for Crumlin village. The architect was present to show designs with six storey buildings throughout the village. This rang alarm bells in my mind. It was a green light for developers that the local authority was accepting this level of development in the area.

A campaign was subsequently instigated, the Dublin 12 Action Group, in which locals got together to protect their area. Planning applications were submitted for developments in Pearse Park, on church sites, the Davitt Road bank and on the Naas Road. These sites are now derelict and communities are left to deal with them. It was left to the campaigns of ordinary people who were trying to get to grips with the development plan and stop the madness in their communities. When I called for a moratorium on the proposed Bluebell local area plan, Fine Gael local authority members told me we could not touch these developers as they had all the rights. One had to pay €20 to submit observations on the plan. We proposed that developers send planning applications to every household in an area rather than hiding them in doorways. The whole system, from top to bottom, had been designed to facilitate the developers who subsequently brought the country to its knees. The issue of enforcement must be addressed and the Bill must bring forward a Clerk of Works process from beginning to end that is independent of developers. That is the key, as many engineers, etc. have been put under significant pressure by major developers to sign off on projects. The State must provide for such persons to be independent of developers while working in local authorities; they can take responsibility for these matters, which is an important issue in terms of insurance if there are problems subsequently.

I will discuss how this issue has affected local authority housing. As a result of the madness, a significant number of tenants in Dolphin House in the north inner city, Ballybough flats and St. Teresa's Gardens have been left in terrible conditions. Tenants from Dolphin House have gone to the European Court of Human Rights because they are living in atrocious Third World conditions. It is shameful that even now the country is not addressing the problem. We have local authorities with inspectors to check private accommodation in following health and safety regulations, but the authorities are not accepting responsibility for their own tenants and buildings which do not meet health and safety regulations. Young children in these buildings are catching diseases and local authorities must take responsibility. The State should also intervene.

Could pyrite still find its way into the system under the new regulations? We should have building regulations providing for standards in respect of in-fill stone, etc. There should also be regulation of banks and local authority actions. There is much to be done and it is not acceptable to argue that what has been done to date by the Minister is enough. A point that has struck me is that substantial compliance measures do not form part of the building regulations but were developed by the legal profession. The Minister also mentioned certificates of compliance and administration procedures governing their use. If these measures are not recognised in the building regulations, why are they still being adhered to? We should take them out and put proper regulations in place.

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