Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

"The introduction of the 10% levy on all concrete products is the actions [sic] of a 'rogue' Government." These are not my words, but the words of the chairperson of the International and Small Business Alliance, ISBA, Mr. Seamus Maye, who says that there is no excuse for quarries and concrete producers not being held to account for the mica building block crisis. The Government is gung-ho about introducing this levy. It is reasonable to ask where the same enthusiasm is for ensuring strong, robust and effective regulation of the building industry. Why is there not the same enthusiasm for going after those responsible for defects? Why is the Government not ensuring the accountability of developers and companies that have caused incredible stress and trauma to families who are living in homes that are falling apart and have other defects? If half the effort that is being put into constructing the new levy were put into strong, effective and robust regulation, we might get out of this vicious circle of more and more levies being introduced because regulation is not done properly in this country. It is reasonable to ask how many more levies will be introduced and will hit people who are not responsible for a regulation. As has been referenced, we have a number of levies in place already.

These include the Insurance Compensation Fund levy. This was in place between 1984 and 1992, and then brought back in 2012 following the collapse of Quinn Insurance. It is a 2% levy paid on all non-life insurance policies to fund the administration of Quinn Insurance. We have also had the Motor Insurers Insolvency Compensation Fund, with a 2% levy on gross motor insurance premiums. This is paid for by everybody getting motor insurance. We also have the bank levy, of course, which is being renewed and extended to the end of this year, albeit with reduced annual yields. Additionally, we have had the electricity levy, namely, the large energy user rebalancing subvention, which has cost households an average of €480 since its introduction. How many more levies are parties in this House going to suggest or impose on people facing huge costs?

The Social Democrats do not support the Government's levy of 10% on concrete blocks. We do not support the introduction of levies that do not hold those responsible to account but that place additional costs on people trying to buy homes. We support those seeking to buy homes who are faced with exceptional affordability challenges that will be compounded by these levies. We also support homeowners affected, through no fault of their own, by construction defects, including those caused by pyrite, mica, fire safety deficiencies, water ingress and other such defects. We do not support any attempts to divide these groups of people who are all struggling to provide safe and secure homes for their families. We do support maximum accountability for those responsible for defects and defective materials.

Given the huge costs, financial and human, of building defects, it is unforgivable and inexplicable that we do not have sufficiently robust and independent regulation of the construction industry. Why is the Government not pursuing those responsible? In recent years, we have heard from the Government that it will go after those responsible, but not a single case has been taken by the State to seek to recoup funds from those responsible for this disaster. Why is it that the quarries producing the defective materials going into homes are still allowed to operate? I asked the Tánaiste about this last week and I felt his response was a kind of a case of shrugging his shoulders and wondering where the evidence was. Expert evidence concerning this matter was presented to the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage a few months ago. Why is the Government not rigorously pursuing these quarries and getting them shut down to ensure no more defects are caused by the use of defective materials? Why is the Government not being proactive on this issue? Why are agencies of the State failing to act when the evidence of defects is right under their noses? I will give an example shortly Equally, after all the billions of euro spent remedying these defects, why do we not have a robust, statutory national building control authority? All we have is the promise of one.

I will give one example where this type of issue has been under the nose of State agencies and they have failed to act. This is just one example of which I am aware, but I am sure there are plenty of others. Fingal County Council knew of serious fire safety defects on an estate in north County Dublin. This emerged when the council was acquiring Part V units. The council fixed its own units, did not pursue the developer concerned for those building defects and did not tell the other residents on the estate that there could be a serious problem with their homes related to fire safety defects. This was a county council, and it must be remembered that local authorities act as the planning authority, the building control authority and the fire safety authority. In my view, the county council in this case ignored all its duties under the legislation regarding those three roles. Fingal County Council became aware of these defects in 2007. Subsequently, further evidence of these defects emerged when a fire broke out on the estate. Thankfully, that happened during the day, which meant people were not asleep. Smoke from the fire spread quickly into other homes in that block. If that fire had happened at night, then it would have killed people.

This is what is happening in respect of the local authorities with responsibilities in this area, but I do not see the Government taking any action or seeking any accountability when State agencies have failed to carry out their duties as building control or fire safety authorities. The Government is quick to bring in levies to place the costs on everybody else, but where is the action to ensure that the authorities meant to be doing their jobs in this regard actually do so? We do not see the Government changing company law legislation to address the old trick where the directors of companies, including development and building companies, fold up the enterprises when there is a problem and then those directors head for the hills or set up a new company and continue trading and building. Why is nothing being changed in company law to allow those directors to be held to account for building defects and fire safety breaches and to ensure there is accountability concerning these issues? There has been nothing from the Government in this regard.

What we need is a national building control regulator. We need a robust system of independent inspections on building sites. We also need independent regulation of the construction industry, and not regulation of the industry by its own lobby group, as the Government brought in this year via legislation in this House. Additionally, we need compulsory defects insurance for builders and developers to weed out rogue builders and developers. My proposed amendment to the Government's legislation, which would have brought this measure in, was voted down and not accepted. Why did the Government do that? Why is it not holding developers and builders to account? Why is it always a case of shrugging the shoulders and trying to find ways of heaping these costs on individuals trying to buy homes? Why is it not possible to find the time to hold developers and builders to account?

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