Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join the Deputy in offering my sympathy to the family so cruelly affected in this case. The National Consumer Agency, as part of its market surveillance responsibility for public safety, runs information campaigns, including a number of campaigns about this hazard. I refer to its website, www.consumerconnect.ie, which hosts a video and a list of safety precautions such as keeping beds, cots and furniture away from windows and cords and chains out of reach. It advises that existing blinds should be made safe.

In addition to providing information and advice on its website, the agency has also issued regular public statements on the dangers cords and chains attaching to window blinds can cause to young children. The latest of these statements were issued in August and November 2012.

In so far as the issue of regulation is concerned, there are no specific safety regulations on window blinds. However, there are a number of European and national standards which apply to the design and safety of window blinds. The Deputy has referred to an EU standard dating from 2009 which is weak in some aspects. In 2012 the NSAI moved to introduce two standards which would serve to increase the obligations in respect of blinds manufactured after the date of the coming into effect of the standard. The difficulty is that they may not apply to blinds manufactured elsewhere in the European Union. The Irish standards provide additional safety protection not specified in the European standard which is being revised. At that point the NSAI standard will be withdrawn. The introduction of the revised European standard is being steered by the SEN, the European standards authority. It is hoped this will be completed within the next ten months.

The European and national standards are intended to represent best practice in the design and safety of window blinds. They are not, however, statutory obligations or requirements. It is not open to Ireland to unilaterally introduce statutory regulations in this area. The introduction of any regulation would require approval from the European Commission and other member states. The advice in this regard is that such approval is unlikely to be granted, given the work being undertaken to revise the existing European standard.

I share the view that the Government can connect with other interested groups to promote this information. The NSAI issues regular press releases and advertisements and conducts awareness campaigns. It also contacts the various retail outlets to ensure their awareness of their responsibilities in this regard. It must be noted that products are still in use which precede the new standards and that there is a problem with some of the embedded products.

See this speech in context