Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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29. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the additional regulatory costs of construction that have been imposed since the introduction of the new Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014; how he will reduce the regulatory costs of building new single-unit and multi-unit housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11809/16]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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No, we are operating back under the old Standing Orders.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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We are back to the old regime. The Deputy was right; it is the old politics.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister must respond and then the Deputy can put a supplementary question.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Building Control (Amendment) Regulations were introduced in 2014 in response to serious concerns for public safety which arose from the prevalence of failed or seriously defective homes following the economic crisis and the collapse of the building sector. The regulations require that compliance with building regulations must be verified through the execution of an inspection plan that enables the builder and the assigned certifier to sign a statutory certificate of compliance on completion.

It has been asserted that the obligations of the regulations impose a substantial additional cost on builders and developers. However, costings prepared by my Department in 2015 as part of its review of the first 12 months of operation of the regulations demonstrate that the new assigned certifier role can be achieved for approximately €3,800 per dwelling. Economies of scale mean the cost per unit will be considerably lower for multi-unit developments. Where additional design work is required, the combined cost for design and assigned certifier duties for a single dwelling is approximately €6,000. A number of respondents at public consultation have confirmed that assigned certifier services can be secured in line with the Department’s costings. Owners of one-off houses were given the facility to opt out of statutory certification from 1 September 2015 under the Building Control (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2015.

A number of important measures aimed at improving housing viability were already introduced by the previous Government.

These include the modification of obligations under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts to balance viability and social delivery, and the retrospective application of reduced development contributions to older planning permissions. In addition, revised planning guidelines on apartment standards, now placed on a statutory footing under the Planning and Development Acts, have the potential to significantly reduce the cost of building high-quality apartments.

In the context of preparing a new action plan for housing, my Department continues to liaise closely with other Departments and agencies and with industry stakeholders with a view to identifying any reasonable and appropriate measures that may be taken in the interests of reducing construction overheads to facilitate an increased level of housing output.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I note that it contains information he has received from his departmental officials that would seem to indicate that the costs are not excessive and do not in any way affect the potential for the construction sector to do more. Unfortunately, I do not agree with the Minister's response. We do agree, of course, that there have to be regulatory guidelines and a proper certification regime in line with building regulations and planning controls. What we have seen in the past has to be improved upon.

However, it is wrong to say that a cost of €4,000 to €6,000 per unit is not excessive when the comparable cost in the UK is about €700 per unit. There has to be a better system. We do not have to have a situation whereby surveyors or the RIAI are the regulatory bodies in this regard. I do not believe that that should be the case. I ask the Minister to consider a certification and licensing regime that could be managed by local authorities. In that way, people could obtain the relevant qualifications and expertise, thus having a licensing and certification system in place to do a job as effectively, if not more effectively than would otherwise be the case. Ultimately, we could resource local authorities so that they would be the sole certifiers. That was their expected role in bygone days, but the manpower, resources and facilities were not available to enforcement officers in local authorities. I ask the Minister, therefore, to seriously consider that prospect in order to address this excessive cost.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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To add weight to what I outlined earlier, according to figures published last week by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland on the cost of building a house, professional fees represent 2% of the cost, which is about €5,000. Part of that cost was the assigned certifier. There had been accusations that an additional cost of €10,000 or €20,000 was attached to this requirement, but I do not think that is the case. However, I will examine what the Deputy has said.

I hope we are about to see a dramatic increase in the number of houses being built in Ireland. We need to get back up to building between 30,000 and 35,000 housing units a year for a sustained period. If we are to build that number of houses we must ensure guarantees around quality and certification. One of the reasons we had poor standards was that the previous systems linked to local authorities did not work. I will look at what the Deputy is saying, and if it is possible to do something to reduce costs, I have an open mind on that.

The system now in place does seem to work. I do not get a lot of kickback from developers about it in terms of excessive costs. Certification is an important part of ensuring quality, particularly when we hope to build significantly more houses than in recent years.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the Minister's commitment to examine the potential that may exist for a different certification and licensing system. I will forward that proposal to him. In that context, I ask him to consider a pilot scheme in certain local authority areas, which might bear fruit for other authorities thereafter.