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

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 6, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “ “foundations” means the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level;”.

The Minister finished off with respect to foundations. The problem is that the NSAI will not conclude that work until the first or second quarter of next year. That is assuming it meets the deadline for its research on foundations. In the meantime, this scheme will open. People will apply, if this Bill passes unamended, as outlined in the scheme. An engineer appointed by the Housing Agency will go into the home. That engineer will not be allowed to test the foundations, even if, in his or her professional opinion, it appears that core testing is required. That makes no sense whatsoever. Many homes will not need foundations to be tested, but the idea that there would not be a simple provision in this Bill to allow a qualified engineer, on foot of a visual inspection, to include core testing of foundations seems bizarre to me. The difficulty is that we do not know when the NSAI will come back to report. We do not know how long it will take officials to draft regulations. Even if the NSAI reports by the second quarter of next year, it could be another quarter before those regulations are complete. This scheme could be open for a year and families who have problems with their foundations in the affected counties could be left for a year. Even though it is visually clear that there is a problem, nobody can do anything. For the life of me, I cannot understand why it is not included in the Bill.

The Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage sent the Minister a letter yesterday. One concern for our committee is the exclusion of foundations from the Bill. When many of the Minister's party colleagues spoke on Second Stage last week, they raised this issue. I simply do not understand why he cannot table a Report Stage or Committee Stage amendment in the Seanad to deal with this issue. I urge him to do so.

It can be done now and then let the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, and the departmental officials do the work on their regulations separately next year.

See this speech in context