Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Minister's final statement. A strengthening of regulations is required to maintain and confirm that a high quality standard of building is put in place. Notwithstanding the fact the Minister said he will not agree to a deferral, I ask him again to consider a specified term of three to six months before this comes into effect. Would he also consider putting a review panel in place to monitor the new regulations thereafter? This will assure us it will not have a detrimental effect on rural Ireland and on the elements of the industry that find themselves outside the loop in respect of their ability to carry out inspections. Will he make a committed effort to launch a public information campaign to allow us to be sure the public is well aware of the implications of the changes?

Would the Minister consider a national building inspectorate? There could be targeted inspections, a system of licensing or registration of builders, and information on builders shared among the relevant authorities, with full prosecutions of any designers or contractors who are negligent in their duties. An open register of inspections and prosecutions and reports of inspections could be made public.

The Minister acknowledged that developers should lodge a bond with the local authority. This should be a mandatory rather than discretionary requirement, as is currently the case. The bond should not be returned until such time as the council is satisfied that the development is complete and meets the required standards. Under the current process, it may be too late when the council initiates proceedings.

I ask the Minister to give serious consideration to the four or five proposals I have made before proceeding as intended on 1 March. We must not misconstrue or misrepresent some of the comments we have heard on the public airwaves and elsewhere in the past week or two. Many members of the public honestly believe there are means and methods to strengthen the process the Minister proposes to enable us to stand over them. We need certainty that the system will not fail to achieve the objectives set for it, as it did in the past with detrimental results.

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