Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. I note that it contains information he has received from his departmental officials that would seem to indicate that the costs are not excessive and do not in any way affect the potential for the construction sector to do more. Unfortunately, I do not agree with the Minister's response. We do agree, of course, that there have to be regulatory guidelines and a proper certification regime in line with building regulations and planning controls. What we have seen in the past has to be improved upon.

However, it is wrong to say that a cost of €4,000 to €6,000 per unit is not excessive when the comparable cost in the UK is about €700 per unit. There has to be a better system. We do not have to have a situation whereby surveyors or the RIAI are the regulatory bodies in this regard. I do not believe that that should be the case. I ask the Minister to consider a certification and licensing regime that could be managed by local authorities. In that way, people could obtain the relevant qualifications and expertise, thus having a licensing and certification system in place to do a job as effectively, if not more effectively than would otherwise be the case. Ultimately, we could resource local authorities so that they would be the sole certifiers. That was their expected role in bygone days, but the manpower, resources and facilities were not available to enforcement officers in local authorities. I ask the Minister, therefore, to seriously consider that prospect in order to address this excessive cost.

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