Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:

- thousands of people in Ireland have been affected by poor quality housing following the building boom of the past 20 years;

- the record of the current Government and the previous Government is one of clear failure to properly regulate the building industry and of regression of building standards;

- there is a commitment in A Programme for a Partnership Government to provide quality housing;

- effective building regulation requires an independent regulator, not self-regulation by the building industry;

- claims have been made by the Construction Industry Federation, CIF, that it will draft upcoming Government legislation in this area;

- with the exception of the Pyrite Panel, there has been no public inquiry or reflection on the causes of the widespread quality problems in housing which continue to emerge and which are a heavy burden on the lives of those affected;

- there has been no law reform that addresses the lack of remedies available to homeowners affected by pyrite, building regulations breaches and other housing failures;

- the availability of effective remedies for defects when they occur is an essential part of the quality of housing;

- the defects in housing resulting from this situation include defects which cause risks to life, health and well-being, as well as creating environmental damage and economic costs;

- Irish home buyers in both the public and private sectors are poorly served by the law, as it stands:- the builder may be insolvent;

- the building contractor may not be available to provide a remedy when the defect appears, for example, where the house or apartment has been sold;

- the Statute of Limitations may bar the action; and

- there may be no defects insurance policy available to pay for the repair works;- these problems have not been addressed by the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014, as while the regulations provide for mandatory inspections by certifiers appointed by building owners-developers and which require a certificate of compliance with building regulations to be lodged with the local building control authority before a new building is opened, occupied or used and are changing the culture of construction regulation, they do not create new legal remedies for homeowners;

- the Law Reform Commission has proposed appropriate legislation on several occasions to deal with many of these issues and there is also a commitment in Construction 2020 ‘to consider and report on potential forms of redress for consumers and homeowners, including the potential for latent defects insurance’ and that redress must include new legal remedies; and

- many housing defects have ultimately been rectified at the expense of the State, rather than those responsible for those defects; and

calls on the Government to:

- introduce new primary legislation to include a transmissible warranty of quality and assignment of causes of action in negligence from builders and those involved in the building process in favour of the first and subsequent purchasers of houses;

- direct the carrying out of a feasibility exercise and business case for the creation of an Irish building authority, to which the functions of the existing building control authorities would be transferred, that would administer building control on a nationwide basis and that would provide a supervisory regulatory function in relation to those involved in the construction industry, including contractors, subcontractors and others involved in the construction process, as appropriate;

- consider the development and use of alternative forms of contract for delivery of housing;

- engage with the Law Society and the CIF to initiate a review of the standard form building agreement used for residential construction, to consider amendments to the agreement to facilitate consumer protection, including amendment of the dispute resolution provision, and removal of the restriction on transfer of the agreement on sale of the unit;

- establish a consumer-friendly system of dispute resolution for homeowners dealing with defective housing;

- amend the Statute of Limitations 1957 to implement the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission in relation to building defects;

- review and evaluate the resourcing of building control for local authorities, recognising that their role and objectives are quite different from the role and objectives of private building control certifiers who are appointed to protect the interests of building owners rather than the interests of the general public in ensuring compliance with the Building Control Acts; and

- prepare and publish options for the financing and carrying out of remedial works to defective housing units, that will form the basis for a nationwide scheme, enshrined in legislation, for the orderly remediation of legacy defects in housing.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chathaoirleach. Is cúis áthais dom an rún seo a thabhairt os comhair na Dála anocht. Tá cúpla mí caite agam leis an Chomhaontas Glas ag plé na ceiste seo, ach caithfidh mé a rá anois, tar éis na tragóide úafásach le Grenfell Tower, gur níos práinní na cúrsaí seo ná riamh roimhe. Is údar imní cad a tharla i Londain an tseachtain seo caite. Tá dúalgas orainn cinntiú nach féidir a leithéid a tharlú in Éirinn.

I am pleased to bring the motion before the Dáil. The Green Party has been working on it in conjunction with leading experts in this field in recent months. We published it weeks before the horrendous tragedy in west London last week. I offer my deepest sympathy to the families and friends of loved ones who were caught up and engulfed in the horrific fire that occurred last week in the land of our nearest neighbours. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha. Cuimhnímid orthu.

The motion calls on the Government to properly tackle the sorry legacy of defects in housing construction and to strengthen building standards and regulations in order to safeguard against this building and regulatory failure ever recurring. This and the previous Government have shown no political appetite or given no priority to dealing effectively with serious problems and issues arising from appalling construction quality of so many homes built during the boom-time era. There has been a series of crises, including the well documented Priory Hall debacle and the high profile Longboat Quay shambles, as well as many other serious and varied problems that have emerged the length and breadth of the country, including in my constituency of Dublin Rathdown.

I appreciate that the newly appointed Minister is new to his brief. However, his party and Government colleagues certainly are not. In the past four years we have had four Ministers with responsibility for housing. This shows the level of genuine intent and respect for the role of this ministry which is at the centre of the biggest crisis of our time. That is an indicator of how this critical ministry has been treated in recent times. It has become the revolving door ministry, with no continuity, no stability and no appropriate demonstration of the level of priority and real action the crisis clearly and urgently merits. It is nearly six years since the Priory Hall development was found to be gravely defective, yet there are no new remedies or proper building standards. Instead, we are still operating on a trust-the-builder basis. Homeowners and prospective homeowners are expected to put their faith in builders without an independent regulator. In case the Minister is unaware, he should know that people do not trust builders to self-regulate.

We are in the middle of a housing crisis and new homes are urgently needed, on which we are all in agreement. However, we cannot sacrifice the safety of people in their homes to pacify the construction industry lobby. Safety must be paramount in any and all construction. There is a duty on the Government to protect its people against greed-driven building standards and incompetent rogue cowboy builders. I emphasise that I am not saying all builders are incompetent. They are not all rogues either, but a number of builders and developers have done an extraordinary disservice to the many genuine, decent, hard-working people involved in the industry. This evening we have an opportunity to take the first concrete steps in stopping rogue builders in their tracks by introducing measures that, once and for all, would put individuals and families first and protect them against these chancers. In essence, that is the priority. We need to protect ordinary consumers who buy their dream family home in good faith.

In January I asked the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, how many times the issue of defective buildings had to rear its ugly head before the people affected by it had some level of certainty about the relief they could seek. Many months later, the same people are still in limbo and uncertain about what assistance, legal or financial, the State can provide for them. In his reply to me in this House in January the former Taoiseach also said he could not guarantee that there would be no more Priory Halls or Longboat Quays. Kevin Hollingsworth of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland recently said that in the past three or four years he had remediated 29 developments for fire safety issues. Not all of these find their way into the media spotlight and many of those involved feel compelled to suffer in silence. They are suffering at the hands of a Government which they believe is not listening to their needs and does not have the hunger or appetite to make a real difference in their lives. In case the Minister is in any doubt, he should know that some individuals and families, including some of those in the Visitors Gallery, are suffering immense and ongoing stress and incredible financial pressure as a result of the State granting builders a type of carte blanche, giving them a near free-for-all to do what they want. Must these homeowners and the many others who have yet to learn how they will be affected by defective buildings forever be reliant on a Government which continues to act in an ad hocwait and see manner?

Last week we heard the horrifying news of the fire at Grenfell Tower in London. Our hearts are with the families of those who lost their lives, but our minds must be set on ensuring it does not happen here. In response to the tragedy Chi Onwurah, MP, wrote in The Guardianlast week that for her, the souls of the dead were in every sub-clause of every tranche of health and safety legislation. Health and safety are matters of dull box checking and red tape at times, but they are also absolutely vital. At issue is the homes of people. This is a matter of public health and safety, but sometimes, ultimately, it can also be a matter of life or death. In order to ensure safety - the most fundamental of protections - we need radical change in how we view and value buildings. We need to act with a safety first attitude, not simply talk about it. As Members of this House, we need to stand up, once and for all, to the construction industry and put people's lives first.

It was reported recently that the Construction Industry Federation was writing the new building control Bill.

While that report has been noted by the Department as being incorrect, it still does not help dissuade us of the picture of a Government which has been for far too long too close to the influential construction industry and too passive in its willingness to enforce high standards. This is not something we would tolerate in the food industry, road safety or car safety, where people's health is at stake. There is no reason to tolerate it when it comes to the standards and safeties at which we build people's homes. Our housing is a public safety issue. We need a regulator, like our food regulator, with specialised statutory powers to name and shame dodgy builders who put people's health and safety at serious risk, which is empowered to put things right.

In order to do this, in the motion before the House today, the Green Party is calling on the Government to create a new, strong, independent building regulator. We need a properly funded national building regulation office wherein such a building regulator will oversee national building control and actively and robustly regulate those involved in construction. We need to stop systematic failures in building control happening again and again by ensuring that building standards are raised and that there is appropriate building control compliance in this country, including fully resourcing the new building regulator office with a real and effective enforcement agency. We must provide protection and support for homeowners who discover serious latent defects in their homes by improving existing legal remedies. This country has been plagued by cowboy developers and there is very little in the current building control regime safeguarding against and stopping it from happening again. There is no comfort for the consumer.

We cannot say that we have not been warned. The Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 put in place an assigned certifier system, but there are still huge problems with this. As Orla Hegarty of UCD has said, a self-builder or developer is effectively appointing someone to police him- or herself, while the appointed person does not have to be independent of the process and has no legal powers. As it stands, there is no guarantee that the assigned certifier must be independent of the developer. In fact, he or she can still be an employee of the developer and have other close links to the developer he or she is certifying. This set up fails to instill trust and confidence for ordinary consumers. It totally undermines the concept of independent regulation and is not something we would accept in any other industry, particularly one in which people’s lives could be put at risk.

We need to look at the regulation of the construction industry in terms of risk management. We need to put the resources in place for ongoing inspections from fire services and fire safety authorities, not just a fire safety certificate before one starts. I welcome the new statutory regulations which will come into effect soon, requiring houses to be built in such a way as to prevent the spread of fire internally and externally and to have an adequate means of escape. These regulations will also impose obligations on landlords to ensure that rented properties meet certain standards. However, they must be accompanied by adequate resourcing of building control authorities for ensuring compliance and dealing effectively with breaches. How can the Government promise building standards will be adhered to if it cannot promise that independent inspections will actually be carried out? All the rules in the world do not matter if there is no credible threat of enforcement. How can the Minister assure the public and promise there will be no dangerous shortcuts if he provides no enforcement? The enforcement agency must have real teeth and not be regarded as a harmless pushover by builders. How many convictions have there been under the Building Control Act since it was introduced in 1992? The former Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, could not answer that when I submitted a parliamentary question. Nobody seems to know and that is very alarming. Worse still, many innocent people who are caught up in this storm, which is not of their making, believe that this Government does not care.

Local authority reports are light on detail when it comes to enforcement by building control authorities. Again, when I put a parliamentary question to the Minister's predecessor earlier this year I was told that his Department is not responsible for the oversight of building control authorities. How can the Minister be sure of the strength of the enforcement of building regulations if he does not have oversight over the actions of building control authorities? At this stage people quite reasonably wish to judge the Minister on deeds and not mere words alone.

There are 31 building control authorities in this country but they are not compelled to produce an annual report. A leading academic in this field, Deirdre Ní Fhloinn, examined all 31 annual local authority reports for 2015. There was very little reference to enforcement, never mind prosecution. That is simply not good enough. Effective building regulation requires an independent regulator and that is why many experts in this field agree with the Green Party’s call for the establishment of an Irish building authority at arm’s length from the vested interest of the construction industry. There is compelling evidence in support of initiating step this evening. To do otherwise, however the Minister may dress it up, would be a cop out, an abdication of responsibility. I urge the Minister not to abandon the people of Ireland who may not have the deep, wealthy pockets of some developers, who suffered most but whose voice is least heard as they do not have easy and ready access to the powers that be in this country.

Alongside this, it is vital that we do not lose sight of the goal of a real and lasting, long-term solution for residents, some whom are listening attentively to tonight's debate, who are the innocent victims of defective buildings. What redress and tangible support do these hard working people have when major defects are discovered in their homes? In many cases the builder has gone bust but our forgiving corporate insolvency laws allow such builders to return to the workforce. They are given a fresh start, a second chance, a bright new day. Regrettably, in the proposed general scheme of the building control (construction industry register Ireland) Bill 2017, these rogue builders will continue to get second chances as it is proposed that a builder who is struck off for a period of time may apply to be restored to the register on merely demonstrating compliance with registration criteria and payment of the standard fee. It is not good enough. In contrast, the contractor responsible for the Berkeley balcony collapse has had its licence revoked for five years. Its managing director must pay the California Registration Board investigation fees of $99,000 before the licence can be granted and may still in due course face a custodial sentence. There are no second chances for the individual citizen in Ireland, for ordinary consumers when major defects are discovered in their homes. They do not enjoy such corporate protections. They are abandoned. How many times must this issue rear its ugly head before the people who are so adversely affected by it have some level of certainty about the relief they can seek?

Simple first steps would include clarification from the Minister as to whether the Government is serious about offering tax reliefs for the undertaking of essential repair works. Giving income tax relief in respect of the repair costs incurred together with a suspension of local property tax and VAT relief along the lines of the home renovation initiative are all practical, reasonable measures which can, if the political will exists, be implemented quickly in order ease the burden on residents. Second, the Government should consider creating a loan fund for those who cannot pay. Section 71 of the 1966 Housing Act has a model for how this can work, and this needs to be adapted and rolled out by local authorities to give assistance to homeowners. In conjunction with the implementation of these measures, as is stated in this evening’s Green Party motion, it is crucial that the Government introduce a transmissible warranty of quality from builders or developers in favour of all subsequent purchasers so that damages can be sought from the original developers, ensuring there can no longer be any place to run and no shelter or place to hide for rogue builders.

An inexpensive, consumer friendly dispute resolution mechanism for homeowners should be established. Landlords and tenants who find themselves in dispute in respect of a tenancy have easy access free of charge to the RTB dispute resolution service.

7 o’clock

However, what resolution do home owners have facing into this unprecedented storm? They have none.

In order to ensure the State will never again be taken as a soft touch it is crucial that increased resources must be pooled into this arm of local government with responsibility for robustly monitoring new builds and in order to be taken seriously a properly resourced enforcement agency must work in tandem with a supervisory division to ensure that inadequate building standards will not be tolerated.

Twenty five years of evidence tells us that leaving the construction industry to its own devices results in widespread dangerous breaches. Will one of the Minister's first acts as Minister with responsibility for housing be to support this motion, to stand up to the construction industry and in doing so stand up for the health and safety of the people or will it be to cave in to vested interests, given them their way and allowing them to continue to put lives at risk?

The tragic inferno in west London last week is a stark reminder that the overriding priority underpinning all construction must be the safety of residents. In the rush to build the houses so urgently needed in this country we must ensure that this time we do it right and that all houses are built to an acceptable and safe standard. The Members of this House have a duty to create a legislative framework to support all those who are living the nightmare of having had defects discovered in their homes and to prevent this happening to another generation of home owners. I ask them to consider these home owners and what they are going through, to help them and to stop it from happening to another generation of home owners.

See this speech in context