Results 6,861-6,880 of 15,059 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 16: In page 19, line 31, to delete “such members of its staff as it thinks fit to be” and substitute “independent”. Section 21 relates to the appointment of inspectors. I have a question which will determine whether I press the amendment, which is just to clarify two elements of section 21. I first want to clarify the function of the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is very welcome but I want to tease this out so I have an understanding of the section. For the benefit of the committee, the Minister of State might outline what the functions of these inspectors are.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: Let me make the point for the proposition that I am making and I will then withdraw the amendment, although I reserve the right to reintroduce it depending on what the Minister of State returns with on Report Stage. This again goes back to that point about the need for an independent process. I would find it completely unacceptable that staff members of the Construction Industry Federation...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will withdraw the amendment but I reserve the right to reintroduce.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: We do not know if contractors are compliant or not. I am not at all casting aspersions on any contractor but we simply do not know. The number of complaints and strike-offs on the registers of architects and chartered surveyors is tiny. In fact, when we did pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill in 2017 or 2018, the committee was surprised when we brought in representatives of the Royal...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 6: In page 12, line 2, after “person” to insert “through the Public Appointments Service”. These four amendments speak to the same issue. They all relate to appointments by the Minister. In the first instance, it is the person under section 9 who would be appointed by the Minister to carry out periodic inspections, reviews, audits, etc....

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is as simple as something like that.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: This a very strange way to constitute the board. I will outline my objections to the section and then propose my alternative. I see no reason the chair of the board should exclusively be any of the four categories stated, namely, a former judge, a practising solicitor, a practising barrister or a registered construction professional. I do not think a registered construction professional...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I welcome the Minister of State's generosity throughout the meeting. That is genuinely a positive thing. We would be more than open to some alternative formulation of this amendment. I agree with Deputies O'Callaghan and Nash about the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. There is a whole set of concerns for workers working for registered companies but there is also the very significant issue...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 20: In page 20, line 24, to delete “ordinary” and substitute “ten”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 21: In page 20, line 24, to delete “by the Minister” and substitute “through the Public Appointments Service,”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 22: In page 20, lines 24 to 35, to delete all words from and including “as follows” in line 24 down to and including line 35, and in page 21, to delete lines 1 to 3 and substitute the following: “with one member selected from the nominations of each the following bodies: (a) the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; (b) the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 24: In page 22, to delete lines 6 to 12 and substitute the following: “(3) The chairperson of the appeals committee shall be appointed through the Public Appointments Service and shall have knowledge and experience of construction, building control, building standards, planning and related legislation; and other areas that the Minister may specify by way...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 25: In page 22, to delete line 23 and substitute the following: “(7) The ordinary members of the appeals committee shall be appointed through the Public Appointments Service.”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 27: In page 23, to delete lines 24 to 28 and substitute the following: “(12) All appeals shall be considered in public.”. The Minister of State is setting a very high expectation in respect of his performance on Report Stage. I want to note that. I do hope that he does not disappoint us terribly. Will there be a leadership contest between now and...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: The amendment relates to section 24(12). It may be that I do not understand the intention. I hope that the Minister of State can clarify the position. Section 24(12) refers to an appeal being considered in public unless the chairperson of the appeals committee, a division of the committee or whatever "determines that, due to the existence of special circumstances, the appeal (or part of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I would be much more comfortable with that if special circumstances were prescribed somewhere. Some of what the Minister of State said could sound eminently reasonable. Unless the circumstances are prescribed somewhere else and not here, however, I think that it gives too wide a latitude. Is there an intention to prescribe this by way of regulations? Is it somewhere else in the Bill that...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: You could write a philosophy PhD dissertation on the meaning of good reason or, indeed, on special circumstances. Does the Minister of State not think that there should be some way of providing a framework or guide to the board in making those decisions. It seems to be too broad. The Minister of State and I can have a nice conversation here about what we interpret it as being. He is...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Regulation of Providers of Building Works Bill 2022: Committee Stage (3 Mar 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: Between now and Report Stage, would the Minister of State be willing to discuss with his officials the proposition that were such special circumstances to be invoked, at least some information on the grounds of those circumstances would be made public in the absence of a public hearing? I am not saying the board would provide the information which is, in itself, confidential but at least the...