Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 30:

In page 45, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: “(i) failure to comply with building control regulations.”.

This is among the most important set of amendments that my colleagues and I have tabled.

We are creating a register, which is a good thing. That register is a register of competence. There will be a set of criteria against which somebody can become a member of that register. If at some stage a complaint is made against a person for failure to comply with the terms of the register, one of the sanctions is that he or she can be struck off. That is all very good. These amendments seek to ensure that, in addition to non-compliance with the competency requirements of the register, if a contractor, company or individual is proven to have failed to comply with building control regulations or planning permission, a third party could make a complaint. If that complaint is found against the contractor, he or she could be, among other things, struck off.

When we had a lengthy discussion about this on Committee Stage, we were told that this amendment was not necessary and that the building control regulations and the building control authorities were responsible and, therefore, that is where this matter should be dealt with. The difficulty is that, first, there has never been a successful prosecution for breach of building control regulations and, second, even if there were a successful prosecution, it would not prevent the party who had breached building control regulations from remaining on the register and continuing to practise. For example, under this regime, the developer who built Priory Hall would still be able to register, as long as he complied with the other conditions set out in the Bill, and would be able to practise. Even if that individual were to be found to be in breach of building control regulations by a building control authority in the future - these are very serious breaches, such as building work that is not fire safety compliant or not structurally sound, which could cost enormous sums of money for homeowners to remediate, and that is even before we talk about the emotional and psychological stress - these people would be able to continue to trade. It is incredible that we are going to give up the opportunity, in setting up of a register such as this, to send a clear signal to industry that if individuals have a history of breaching building control regulations, they should be struck off the register and never allowed to practise again.

When I interviewed Stephanie Meehan, one of the homeowners in Priory Hall whose partner, Fiachra Daly, took his own life because of the pressure of Priory Hall, one of the things she said about the developer who built that development was that he should never be allowed on a building site again. She is correct, but there is nothing in the law that would allow us to achieve that. These amendments, or a version that could be crafted by the Department's officials and brought forward on Committee Stage in the Seanad, would ensure that, in addition to the other elements of this Bill, somebody negatively affected by breaches of building control regulations could take a complaint to the register and, if successful, could have a rogue builder or contractor struck off. That seems eminently sensible to me. I cannot for the life of me understand why the Government would give up this opportunity.

I know the Minister of State will not accept these amendments, unless he has had a wonderful change of heart, which I would celebrate enormously, but I am still urging the Department to reconsider this crucial matter between now and Committee Stage in the Seanad because if we do not do it here, it will not get done. In ten, 20 or 30 years' time, there will be another group of people in this Chamber asking why in God's name did their predecessors not take this chance and why did they allow the possibility of rogue builders, who have a proven track record of breaching building control regulations, remaining on a register and continuing to practice. For these reasons, I urge the Minister of State to consider the substance of the amendment, if not the text itself.

See this speech in context