Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I offer a big welcome to the APHCI members. It is good to see them in the Visitors Gallery. When I took on the brief of spokesman for communications, energy and natural resources, this was not a topic on my to-do list. Then one day I got a telephone call from a plumber in Lucan. He told me he was ringing because I was a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. He told me he had serious concerns about the installation of boilers in Dublin and probably nationwide. I talked through the issue with him. He offered to take me to a housing estate to show me what he was talking about. I met that good man. He was able to point out to me, a layman, what was wrong. We were only looking at the installations externally; we did not look inside. To his trained eye, there were obvious deficits in the plumbing carried out. He was able to describe not only the deficits in the plumbing but also the risk they presented. The risk applies not only to the people in the house but people walking past the house in that housing estate. He said he could take me to many estates around Dublin where we would find the same problems.

The committee and the association heard that there have been in the region of 100,000 installations - I will not use the word "illegal" as that is the wrong word - by unregistered contractors in this country since 2009. There is some dispute over the figures. It may be a little more or a little less. It is frightening that we do not know for sure. This is not something that makes the headlines. We will not see a "Prime Time" programme about it until there is a disaster. God forbid that there will be a major incident. However, if there is a major incident, the spotlight will shine on us, because we are the people who can make the difference.

The committee has done invaluable work under the Chairman, Deputy John O'Mahony. Two things have struck me, and one of them is particularly strange. Let us suppose that there are in the region of 100,000 illegal installations. Only 45 prosecutions have been taken. I find that extraordinary. There is something wrong with either the legislation or the implementation of the legislation. This needs to be changed. A second point struck me. Much of the inspection work focused on the work of the registered contractors - in other words, the men and women who are doing it right. We have been expending considerable energy on people who do the right thing, register as contractors and put the association's stamp on the quality of their work. Yet there have been only 45 prosecutions after approximately 100,000 illegal installations. That makes no sense whatsoever. The focus must be on unregistered installers. That is the area of greatest potential risk. That is the gap we have to fill.

It is not necessary for me to go down through the various points made in the report. That would only represent repetition. I welcome the Minister's response on some of the issues. However, we need to do more in some areas. The joint committee recommended that an independent expert consultant be appointed. That matter is entirely within the remit of the Commission for Energy Regulation. The CER has said that informal surveys have been carried out and are being carried out. Furthermore, the commission has said it is engaging with the Central Statistics Office to assess the numbers involved. It is true that the CER is independent. I believe the CER will look at what we believe is important within this field, as legislators and representatives of the community.

I am sure the CER would welcome and respond to indications from the Government that this is an area in which concerns have been expressed.

The report also recommends legislative compulsion to underpin a revised safety framework. The Minister proposed the introduction of a voluntary scheme to restrict the sale of gas boilers to registered gas installers. I could nearly put money on it that a voluntary scheme would not work and that it would slip into misuse. It will have to be a compulsory scheme. From the Minister's response, there will be some movement in the negotiations between the CER and Insurance Ireland, but we need to remind the CER that we wish this to be implemented. The final recommendation is on the Register of Gas Installers of Ireland, RGII, scheme, and I understand the Minister's response on this.

The work of a committee does not and should not end with the production or launch of a report or with the tabling of a report in the Dáil. The work of a committee is done only when the necessary legislation, structures and practices are in place to fill the gaps to tackle the weaknesses identified in its discussions with the various bodies and associations involved. We have a little bit to go. The Minister's response outlines that things are happening, but they probably need a little bit of a nudge along. I hope there will not be an incident to shine the spotlight on us, and I hope people will not be able to say validly we were tardy or slow in our response to address the serious issues identified in the report.

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