Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also send my congratulations to the Minister and the Minister of State across the Chamber.

I welcome this motion tonight as it is an area of housing policy on which I have been working on the joint committee for housing, planning, community and local government, and with my colleagues in Fianna Fáil over the last number of months. Before I came into the Chamber, I went on the websites for Cork City Council and Dublin City Council to see how much independent oversight is taking place on fire certification. One of the frequently asked questions on the Cork City Council website is, "Will Cork City Council inspect the development when it is completed?". The answer states: "The building control authority has the power to inspect and your building may be inspected for compliance with building regulation". On the Dublin City Council website, to the question, "Will Dublin City Council inspect and certify my building when it is finished?", the answer is "No. You should employ your fire safety consultant to oversee the fire-related issues of the works. When the works are finished, you should request the certificate of compliance from your consultant".

This is why we are here tonight. We have to move from the current system of what is still self-certification and move to a robust, independent and rigorous inspection system that is controlled by the State. That is why Fianna Fáil is in agreement with much of the reasoning behind this motion but we are placing an amendment which in my view places additional concrete measures - no pun intended - to ensuring an independent, robust and manageable building regulations system that homeowners and the State can have confidence in. If our motion is unsuccessful I am pleased that we can support the original motion by the Green Party.

In the midst of the greatest housing and homelessness crisis in the history of the State we, as legislators, may be forgiven for concentrating solely on urgent measures to rapidly increase supply at all levels from social housing, affordable housing to private rental homes. However, it is essential that we learn the lessons from the previous housing bubble and the resulting financial crash. It is essential that we ensure that the increased supply of housing that is so badly needed and indeed the existing housing stock, is of the highest possible standard. A house, at the end of the day, is a home for people that should be built to last. At the very least every home in this Republic should be certified as safe for habitation. The tragedy in London just one week ago today is a too horrific reminder of the consequences of poor materials and insufficient fire safety controls in buildings. I offer my deepest condolences to the families involved in the Grenfell Tower disaster. Our thoughts and prayers are with those in London still coming to terms with the enormous loss of life.

We also need to be clear about what exactly we are talking about, so as not to be in anyway cynical about raising people’s fears about building standards in Ireland for political motives. Everyone here tonight wants the best standards and is working towards that end. The standards that we in Ireland currently have in place for the construction of homes are high. Fire safety standards and building regulations are of a high quality and are on a par with best practice internationally and this has been confirmed by many experts in this area both at committee evidence and in external expertise that I have sought for policy development in this area. However, there is little point in having very high standards and comprehensive building regulations that can be pulled off a shelf every time there is an issue.

What is needed is a robust, independent and rigorous inspection system that is controlled by the State and that enforces the regulations with serious penalties for breaches. We all know about infamous developments such as Priory Hall where the standards and regulations did not matter because they were not enforced during construction. There was no independent oversight. That, combined with research that has identified that the fire inspection regime in place for the rental sector in Dublin City has an inspection rate of less than 10%, then one can clearly see the serious failings in the current inspection regime for that sector. I and my colleagues in Fianna Fáil will insist that we work purposefully towards an independent inspection regime of 100%. This will take a sea change in current thinking by this Fine Gael Government when it comes to the State's role in the housing sector and one that I genuinely hope will happen. I have been working with my Deputy Barry Cowen and my colleagues in Fianna Fáil in drafting legislation that will ensure an independent inspection regime that is fit for purpose and can be trusted. That is what is needed here.

We are also concerned about the lack of inspections in the private and public rental sector and through our vacant housing bill we will clamp down on abuses that are occurring. The current building control model, commonly known as the BCAR system, has fatal flaws. The current inspection model during construction involves an inspector known as an assigned certifier. This assigned certifier is a person that is employed by the builder or developer of the housing development. It does not take a brain surgeon or public policy expert to see the potential conflict of interest that exists between the assigned certifier and the fact that the person who is paying the assigned certifier is the developer of the development in question.

Another flaw is the prosecution of serious breaches in the inspection of building regulations. There must be severe and appropriate penalties on failures of inspectors. Currently under section 1.9 each professional body investigates complaints against their own members for example architects investigate architects, chartered surveyors investigate surveyors. This is self-regulation and not appropriate in our view. The fact that no sanction has been brought against an architect or surveyor for the last six years is evidence of the failures inherent in the current BCAR regime. What is required here is obvious. Independent and professional distance between the inspection regime and the developer and builders who construct our homes. There are plenty of international examples of such systems and the model that we in Fianna Fáil will be proposing ticks all of those boxes. In our view the most appropriate platform for delivering this independent building inspection regime is an approved certifier list which can be managed by the local authority that will provide the independent framework with Departmental guidance. It will be the local authority and the State who will provide the steel that is needed for a robust inspection regime and it will be the State that will sanction and penalise any failings on behalf of the developer or the inspection system. A centralised national building authority as proposed by the Green Party motion while not intentional, will further contribute to the over-centralisation of public services and a further reduction in the role of local government in our view.

Irish local authorities are the appropriate platform to deliver these services, considering the role they already play in planning and housing, their management of the current BCAR process, their direct connection to the Department and their expertise. They also serve to deepen the institutional knowledge local government in Ireland needs to regain when it comes to delivery and management of quality housing for all our people.

Over time, as this new system beds in and develops, there is massive potential for the local authority, qualified inspectors, builders and developers to learn from one another and work in partnership to ensure that the homes built in Ireland are safe, built to an exceptionally high standard and can be trusted as having been independently verified as such. This new model of building regulations and controls will also serve to restore trust in the State's ability to oversee important areas of social policy on an ongoing basis. As legislators, that is what we are here for.

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