Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I had not planned on speaking on this debate but I rambled in and decided to listen. The Minister said:

The Government’s focus has primarily been on ensuring strong and effective regulation in the building control system and the construction industry and on improving compliance in the building regulations...

I believe that the building-control reform agenda and other initiatives under way provide a full and comprehensive roadmap to embedding a culture of real compliance within the construction industry.

I can guarantee the Minister that in 2030 we will have as big a percentage of poorly built houses and apartments as we have now. Nothing will change; I see absolutely nothing new in how we are doing things. Does the Minister talk to the people who actually build this stuff? It is not difficult to build a house or an apartment block properly. One can build it well just as quickly as build it badly. Sometimes it costs more to build it well, but it is not any more difficult.

When a young couple buys a house the bank, in fact, owns the house. The bank gets someone to certify the house. More often than not it gets an architect, but architects know nothing about building. Architects design; they do not build. A bank will not accept certification from a builder; it will accept it from an architect. It gets an architect to go out and look at it and he will sign off on it. His insurance is supposed to cover it. If trouble arises and the place is falling down, it goes back on the client - the person who was foolish enough to buy the house. If the bank owns the bleeding property, why does the bank not take responsibility for the fact that it did not get it checked out properly?

If any of the Deputies present want to buy a house or an apartment in this town in the next couple of years, they can give me a ring, and I will go and look at it. I will tell them if it is built right or not. I can tell them whether the apartment or house is okay and whether the overall complex is built properly. I will not even charge them for doing so. It is not rocket science; building is simple.

There is so much stuff in the Minister's speech and many areas being looked at. However, nothing is changing. We have a big problem in how we supply housing and there is no monitoring of how we do it. We are going to increase inspections from 12% to 15%, which means we will not worry about 85% of them on the basis that they will be grand. Not only should the local authorities be inspecting 100% of them, but we will need to train them to do it because they are not fit for purpose because they have been allowed to go in that direction. We need people who understand what they are looking at. There is no point in talking around in circles on all this stuff. If one really wants to change what is happening and the whole culture around the quality of housing, the control of how things are done and the lack of enforcement, God help us and save us, one would not be well.

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