Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also commend Deputy Catherine Murphy for bringing forward this Bill. It contains many ideas. As in the case of much legislation that goes through this House, there is not enough time to debate it. The Water Services (No. 2) Bill is a stark example of that this week.

Part 2 of the Bill provides for the establishment of a national planning compliance register composed of information relating to enforcement notices issued by every planning authority in the State. The intention of the register is to allow far greater transparency than presently exists in the area of compliance. If a builder carries out an unauthorised development, he is subject to criminal proceedings but too often that does not happen. While we have had a great deal of debate on problems in the construction industry in the past two years, there is a fair amount of decent regulation in place but the problem is that it is not implemented or enforced. I have some serious reservations about some major aspects of the new building regulation that the Minister plans to introduce in the new year.

To return to Part 2 of the Bill, I am advised that the Construction Industry Federation, CIF, is compiling a registry of compliant builders, and reference is made to that register in Part 2, but I do not believe that those in the CIF are the best people to do this. It is a bit like the gardaí inspecting themselves. If the Minister was to take account of the bad building that was done here in the past 20 years, I can assure him that more of it was done by the larger developers - rather than the smaller operators - who had a very good relationship with the CIF. I do not know if this problem will be tackled. Self-regulation is a huge problem. The Minister's new regulation cuts out the local authority too much; it will not give them an independent input into what is going on. The lack of site supervision on a constant basis is a massive problem. I do no care how many drawings one has to do in advance or how many certificates one has to get, if a builder is on site and needs 32 mm steel bars for a load-bearing beam and has only 25 mm steel bars on site and no one is watching what he is doing, he can use the steel bars he has on site and they will be covered in concrete in an hour or two. What is going to change? Therefore, site supervision is critical.

I spent most of my life on building sites and I know where the cheating happens. I am surprised there has not been more consultation. The Minister has dealt with the professionals, the architects and engineers in the design game, rightly so, but builders, homeowners and people who manage properties have a good deal to bring to the table. I am surprised there was not more consultation with those people. I can assure the Minister that builders know a great deal more than architects about how work is done poorly on sites. The Minister has made the architect completely responsible but I do not know how the architect will get insurance cover to do that. I believe the responsibility must be spread more. The architect is supposed to get certificates of all the others involved but the individuals have to provide the insurance on an individual basis. I am only getting started.

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