Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to this legislation, which is very important because there is a real need for oversight and accountability. The Bill commits to the establishment of a robust mandatory statutory register to develop and promote a culture of competence, good practice and compliance with building regulations within the building community and construction sector. Deputies Ó Broin and Gould have outlined Sinn Féin's concerns and the range of amendments that will be submitted, and those are important to note.

We can all agree we need a regime of registration, regulation, oversight and accountability that is fit for purpose, not just in construction but across the sector as a whole. In the couple of minutes I have I will focus on the national retrofitting programme, where the commitment from the Government is for 500,000 deep retrofits and 400,000 heat pumps. It is a very significant undertaking. There is a question that must be asked, and it has been asked across the political spectrum in good faith. It is whether we can achieve the same emissions reductions, or perhaps even more, by taking a different approach because the scale of the challenge is incredible. There has been talk of the inverse care law and it applies in this area as well; the people who most need the retrofits are least able to afford it. We know from figures released to me in yesterday's parliamentary questions replies that just ten deep retrofits were carried out under the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland scheme, with 1,730 carried out under the social housing scheme. It is a long way off 50,000 per year.

Since Christmas I have met people in sustainable energy communities across the country and they have raised legitimate concerns in good faith about the number of tradesmen and women available for this work. There is a serious shortage. There are also concerns about the skill sets as we are talking about relatively recent or new and emerging technologies. There is the example of the installation of heat pumps and the traditional skills do not apply. New skills are needed. There is also talk of dealing with tradesmen and women who are not familiar with the new technology.

I implore the Minister of State to ensure the opportunity can be grasped to increase capacity within those sectors and support sustainable energy communities. There should be increased opportunities with apprenticeships and people to deal with new technologies. Workers in the sector must be properly regulated, registered and overseen to ensure the highest standard and quality of work can be delivered so people can benefit from these retrofit programmes.

See this speech in context