Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I support this group of amendments. I am not on that committee so I was not part of that discussion, but fair points have been made. It really is quite extraordinary that the CIF would be the body to house the register of building providers. This is an attempt or effort at regulation of an industry that has failed so badly in many respects, including the health and safety of workers, bogus self-employment, desperate defects such as fire safety, mica, pyrite and you name it, all of which has cost the State an absolute fortune. It has cost the lives of building workers, it has caused misery for homeowners and it has resulted in buildings that are fire hazards for those who live in them. One could just go through the list. It is extraordinary that the body in control of that industry, that allowed this sort of stuff to happen, and that represents builders and developers, is going to house the register. It seems to me absolutely amazing that they would have the right to appoint five members to the board. I take the Minister of State's point that consideration is being given to amending this when the Bill is before the Seanad to give greater representation to others, but I am not sure why this cannot be done here in response to the amendments that have been tabled by Deputies Ó Broin, Nash, and O'Callaghan.

It is completely unacceptable but it also appears to run afoul of another provision of the Bill that states the body chosen by the Minister to house the register - or whatever phrase is used in the Bill - cannot be "a body that promotes a political cause". The CIF promotes political causes. It is constantly promoting political causes. It is lobbying for the industry all of the time. It lobbied against Covid restrictions, for example, at particular points in time. It is constantly lobbying in the interests of its members in what is self-evidently a political form of lobbying. Deputy Barry quips behind me that it is the "industrial wing of Fianna Fáil". Whether that is true or not, it is certainly a credible point.

In all seriousness, if we are to exclude bodies that campaign for political causes then that would exclude the Construction Industry Federation, to my mind. It absolutely excludes them. There is a contradiction in the legislation from that point of view. Any serious definition of bodies that promote particular political causes would absolutely include the CIF, which is one of the most active bodies in campaigning and lobbying for its particular members to affect politics and affect public policy. I just wanted to add this point, if had not already been made. The Government must seriously rethink this. Those who control the industry should not be the ones charged with regulating it.

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