Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join other speakers in congratulating the Minister, Deputy Murphy, and the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, on their appointments and wish them every success with those appointments. It is in the interest of all of us that they are successful and adhere to and listen to the suggestions from this side of the House and others about measures which can address the unfortunate crises and emergencies in the housing sector. I also commend Deputy Catherine Martin and her party for tabling this motion, which is very opportune, considering what has happened in London in recent weeks. The motion focuses our minds on how we adhere to our responsibilities to provide the best possible security and safety to those who reside in properties that obtain planning permission from local authorities and officers of the State.

Our duty as a State must be to assume responsibility for ensuring planning authorities properly police and protect people's interests. Improvements were made in this regard by the previous Administration in respect of how that is done but they still contradict, for example, the manner in which the initial application is granted by virtue of the fact that the fire officer can grant permission based on the submission of the drawings and them being in compliance of the regulations. As previous speakers said, the responsibility then transfers to certifiers employed by the building trade when it comes to implementation of what the fire officer wants.

We heard from departmental officials at our earlier committee meeting about last year's decision of An Bord Pleanála regarding Airbnb and the obligation on the State to ensure that those who offer their properties for short-term lettings must seek a retention of planning permission to do so. When we asked how many instances have been acknowledged by the agents of the State, in this case local authorities, they replied, "None", despite the fact that circulars had issued to them to be vigilant about the manner in which they applied the law in respect of future permissions. However, there was nothing about responsibility in respect of existing permissions. There is a realisation on the part of departmental officials that they did not see fit to seek from the Minister and the Government adequate resources and personnel to ensure they could carry out the duties they must perform by virtue of another arm of the State having made this decision.

It is the same in this regard. If we want to be appropriate in the manner in which we adhere to this and our obligations, an independent authority such as assigned certifiers within local authorities should be adequately trained and resourced in order that they can carry out that duty. This could be done perhaps at a lower cost than by those employed by others. That is the road we should travel in this regard. I hope the Minister and the Government will acknowledge that. In the interests of safety, irrespective of the cost, they must adequately train and resource personnel to carry out this duty in the same professional manner as fire officers when they inspect the plans that are brought forward in the first instance. We have tabled an amendment to that effect in respect of how that should be done. We support the thrust of the Green Party's proposal in the absence of our amendment not being accepted by the House.

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