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

I join with others in welcoming everyone in the Gallery and everyone watching these proceedings. I wish to make several points, the first following on from where Deputy Ó Ríordáin finished in respect of ensuring this never happens again. This afternoon, we had representatives from the National Building Control and Market Surveillance Office, NBCMSO, the National Standards Authority of Ireland and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage before the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage to discuss the issue of quarries and defective materials. Two points arose from that discussion that should not be the case if all of us are 100% committed to ensuring this never happened again.

First, we could not get a clear answer from the Department regarding how many people work in building control in local authorities. I, and other Deputies, have tabled written questions to the Minister on this issue. The question of how many people are working to ensure something like this never happens again is important. How many people are working in inspecting new developments and buildings is something the Minister and the Department should be interested in, have oversight of and be concerned about. Yet the response we got was that the Department does not keep this kind of information. If we are all committed to this type of monitoring, the very least we should have is oversight of this at national level. We should have full information in this regard.

The second issue of note stemming from the committee meeting relates to the resources available for building control and the NBCMSO, which is doing excellent work. In as much as the representatives of any public agency will ever say this, because they are under pressure not to, but as much as it could be said, given they do that job really well and they are highly committed, it was clear that this is a small team that could be resourced better. When we think of the devastation and stress caused to individuals and families and the billions of euro in costs incurred because of this issue, it is inexplicable that the NBCMSO, which does important work, would be under-resourced. This must be addressed.

Turning to accountability for developers, which other Deputies have mentioned, one thing could be done now if the Government were serious about this issue. Some of the developers involved made great profits from selling homes, marketing them and an entire lifestyle to go with them, and then shut down those companies once this difficulty arose. They then set up new companies and are making large profits again. Cairn Holmes was referred to earlier. Its operating profits this year are predicted to run to €200 million. The company's revenue increased by 84% in the first six months of this year. This to give an example of just one large developer. One thing that could be done now to ensure people can no longer hide behind company law is to amend it in the context of residential construction and ensure that directors are accountable for what companies do. Winding up companies should not be a get out of jail free card for them. This would bring some accountability to the system. Another action would be to ensure that developers must have latent defects insurance to operate and build. I tabled amendments to this effect to legislation passed by the Government in the past year. Unfortunately, the Government did not support my proposed amendments. If, however, latent defects insurance was required, that would mean that anyone building shoddy homes simply would not be able to get insurance. This would remove them from the system and provide some support for residents caught in this type of situation.

There has been some good discussion concerning the timeframes in this regard. There is great urgency with this process. People's lives are on hold. It is difficult for them to deal with this situation, and all the stress it produces and, at the same time, progress all the other aspects of their lives. There is, therefore, an urgency in this regard. No one is asking for a rushed job here. We want this done properly, but as quickly as possible. There is agreement that this should be done on a statutory basis and that legislation should be put in place. I have not heard anyone argue otherwise. This should, though, be done as fast as we can. These mistakes came from rushed building and a sticking plaster attitude to construction. There is no reason to fail have a robust and quick response to this issue that is also well worked out. Many of these issues arose ten and more years ago. It has been almost three years since the last election. To expect measures to be in place is not expecting too much in terms of urgency regarding dealing with this issue.

Regarding what needs to happen, some excellent proposals have been put forward by the Construction Defects Alliance and the Apartment Owners' Network. One concerned remediation and the urgent need for it. Another was that inclusion is important in the context of retrospective measures. Anyone who has carried out expensive works should be included in the scheme. It would be blatantly unfair otherwise. It is also important to think about that issue in terms of apartment complexes and how they are run by volunteer directors serving on owners' management companies, OMCs. Many of these have major difficulties in collecting management fees and running those companies. Putting this extra burden on them will be a heavy weight to bear. The remediation scheme must recognise the reality these people are experiencing, namely, that some of these OMCs have difficulty collecting management fees. If the scheme, therefore, excludes some of the homes and owners, this will make it unworkable for some of the OMCs. Regarding the Minister's comments concerning how far it will be extended, there is a need for upfront funding for apartment blocks. For any of the multi-unit owners, then, trying to find a way of clawing this back through the taxation system would be the way forward. Partial funding for most will just not work. It would mean this situation will drag for many more years and put the volunteers running the OMCs under even more pressure. As the Minister will be aware, in some places, because of all the stress stemming from the impact of that issue, the directors have resigned. This leaves an OMC in a weaker position. New directors may come in with less experience and all the resulting issues that then creates. There is a strong case that this scheme should be run like the Pyrite Resolution Board. This is a good model. We should learn from its experience and expertise accrued. It would also be more cost-effective if this process was one where the repairs were overseen by the Pyrite Resolution Board, or its successor, rather than putting all this responsibility on the OMCs.

The Minister said that he is going to bring interim measures forward. When will that happen, given that they will be interim? In the context of the timelines in this regard, when is the legislation going to come through? When is the scheme going to be up and running?

The least that people in this situation deserve is concrete information on that from the Minister in terms of their lives being on hold.

Let us reflect on our housing system. People pay some of the highest prices in Europe for homes. Developers make huge profits. The regulation system has been incredibly weak. Even now, especially given what we heard this afternoon, everything is not being done to ensure that we do not have a repeat of this. There have been improvements in regulation, but are we doing our best in terms of regulation? Do we have independent inspections in place? We do not have a national building control agency, which is needed. We do not have the requirement for latent defects insurance. We do not have those changes in company law to hold directors of construction companies that do this to account so that they cannot hide behind closing down a company. There are immediate things that should be done now to rectify that.

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