Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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It used to be the case that people discussed the performance of their cars in terms of miles per gallon, but a new topic of conversation concerns the energy performance of one's home and the cost of gas and electricity. The Power of One campaign seeks to make us much more environmentally friendly and there are two reasons behind the great support therefor. These include the cost implications of energy consumption and concerns about climate change.

The EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings was published in January 2003 and it will result in the need to have an energy performance certificate when selling one's home in the future. The Irish Government sought to delay the improvement of building standards and therefore thousands of homes have been built to a lower standard and will not achieve an "A" rating. Given the amount being paid for new homes and the enormous profits being made, it is the very least a purchaser should expect. For a household which has forked out the equivalent of a lottery sum to purchase a starter home and which wants to move on as the family grows, it will mean having to shell out thousands more on experts to advise on how to get an "A" rating. Remedial works must follow in order to achieve the much sought after rating, which will be in demand from more environmentally astute purchasers. In the meantime the family will continue to pay through the nose to heat the sub-standard home.

In whose interest was it to postpone the introduction of energy rating? To see the special relationship between Fianna Fáil and the construction industry, one needs to look no further. Despite the EU legislation being in place, any housing units that received planning permission prior to the end of December 2006 need not comply or produce certificates on energy efficiency. However, who is going to buy a pig in a poke? Who will purchase a house that costs a fortune to heat, where remedial works are required when a comparable dwelling with an "A" rated energy certificate is available for the same price? This is nothing short of an absolute scandal.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to highlight the fact that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has applied for a further delay in implementing the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings and the negative impact this will have on consumers, house buyers and, of course, the environment.

To some this might seem to be a technical matter that will not have a major impact on their lives. However, every person buying a house from 1 January 2007, and who has to spend the next 30 to 40 years paying a mortgage on it, will be adversely affected by the Minister's action. For the next two years approximately, builders will not have to provide energy performance efficiency certificates for the houses they build. Therefore house buyers will lose out on two counts. They will need to obtain an energy certificate if they decide to sell or rent the house, which will involve extra cost. However, the big issue is that a purchaser will not know the energy efficiency standard of the house he or she is buying or what it complies with. Substantial remedial work may have to be done to raise the standards of homes if people wish to sell them in the future. In this scenario the big losers are the house buyers and the environment and the winners are those in the building industry, whose pockets will be lined.

I believe pressure from the building industry is the main reason for this delay. I have been told, for example, that the software is not ready. However, that is just a smokescreen and the real reason is that builders do not want it. The purpose is to facilitate a small group of very large builders. Of course it is not the first time this has happened. In 1997 a memorandum from his adviser to the then Minister for the Environment stated that the Department should revise Part L of the building regulations in 1998 or 1999 rather than waiting until 2002-3. The memorandum states:

The next leap in building standard insulation will probably involve making it difficult for hollow block construction, used widely in the Dublin area, to survive. This has implications for manufacturers of hollow blocks and builders etc.

Nothing happened until the regulations were revised in 2003. In the meantime in excess of 250,000 houses were built with an energy efficiency rating approximately 35% below standard. The winners were the hollow block manufacturers and builders and the losers were the 250,000 families who bought those houses. That was a scandal, but it is even more scandalous that once again house buyers are being held to ransom. The environment will suffer and the building industry will clean up.

This Minister is spending millions of euro telling consumers how to conserve energy, yet his action in this matter will cost house buyers millions in remedial work in the future.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings was adopted on 16 December 2002. The transposition date was 4 January 2006. However, Article 15 of the directive allowed for an additional period of three years, up to 4 January 2009, for transposition of Article 7 which requires the building energy rating, BER, certification of new and existing buildings where they are being offered for sale or letting. The certificate will provide house owners and purchasers with information on the energy performance of their dwelling — and indeed other buildings — and how to improve that performance.

The impression has been given that Ireland has delayed in implementation of the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings. In fact the opposite is the case. Ireland is one of the leading group of EU member states in terms of implementing the directive. Prior to last year, only one member state, Denmark, had a BER system. Four member states introduced the system last year on foot of the directive and Ireland is one of seven countries to introduce it this year. The various implementation deadlines set out in the regulations are in line with those published in Ireland's implementation action plan, save for one additional transitional period for new homes for which planning permission was obtained in the second half of 2006.

The EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings is a complex piece of work. The challenges both in Ireland and other EU member states have been to develop supporting administrative, computer and training systems to underpin energy rating. BER will be phased in, as set out in the Government's original action plan, as follows: new dwellings, with effect from 1 January 2007; new non-domestic buildings, with effect from I July 2008; and all existing buildings when sold or let, with effect from 1 January 2009.

The regulations provide for an exemption for new dwellings for which planning permission had been applied before the end of December 2006. It had been intended that the exemption would apply where planning permission had been sought prior to end June 2006. The extra time was allowed, however, at the request of Sustainable Energy Ireland, SEI, which has primary responsibility for practical implementation of this directive on the ground, primarily to enable the roll out of a substantial number of trained and registered BER assessors in the first half of 2007, and to allow SEI to complete the setting up a system for the smooth and efficient administration and oversight of the BER certification system, involving the recruitment of staff, the installation of ICT systems, etc. However, the exemption ceases as originally intended at 30 June 2008 unless substantial work has been completed. All new dwellings are covered from 30 June 2008 and this date has not changed

I should explain that the directive per se does not set standards for energy performance, other than to specify that national standards be expressed in a particular format. Irish law requires buildings to comply with the conservation of fuel and energy requirements of Part L of the building regulations. I should also make clear that there has been no postponement of the actual energy conservation standards which apply to new homes. The change in the transitional date relates only to the energy labelling system.

I would like to respond to the Deputies' concerns about the use of hollow blocks in housing. When the Department commenced the process of upgrading Part L in the 1990s, in keeping with good administrative and governance practices it had to consider all aspects of the proposed stricter standards, including impacts on the construction industry at a time when demand for houses was putting severe pressure on house prices. The broadly based building regulations advisory body therefore commissioned an assessment of the impact of higher thermal performance standards on house building. This independent study was carried out by UCD-ERG, which showed that all the most common house building systems could be insulated to comply with the proposed higher standards, including hollow block construction. The results of this study were published in November 2000. Draft proposals were published for public consultation in 2001 and the definitive regulations were made in 2002.

The original idea, as set out in the national climate change strategy, October 2000, was to increase thermal performance standards in two phases — in 2002 and 2005. As a result of the UCD-ERG study, Part L regulations were made in 2002 which applied the higher standards, in a single step, to new dwellings commencing on or after 1 January 2003.

Energy rating will provide important information for the consumer under the able guidance of Sustainable Energy Ireland. I emphasise that the delay was at SEI's request and I do not believe anyone doubts its commitment in this whole area.