Results 4,001-4,020 of 7,163 for speaker:Cian O'Callaghan

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Strategies (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: 699. To ask the Minister for Health the current status of the Neuro-Rehabilitation Strategy 2019-2021; the progress of the implementation of the strategy in CHO9; the action that he will take to ensure the effective roll-out of the strategy in the remaining seven CHO areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60979/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: I welcome the witnesses. I will follow on from some of the previous questions. The representatives from the NBCMSO indicated that the technical compliance of products is high. What percentage of the quarries inspected were found not to meet the standards? I refer to significant instances of technical and product non-compliance rather than paperwork issues.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: There were three instances of non-compliance out of all the operators. In terms of the testing process and what happens when a product is found to be non-compliant, there has been a lot of detail given in the discussion thus far. What happens in respect of the people who have bought and used that product in construction? Does the quarry or the producer of the product notify those people?...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: If I build homes and bought a product from a quarry that is found to be non-compliant, as the house builder, I will be notified of that as part of the corrective process. Is that what Ms Phelan is saying?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: Does the NBCMSO check, as part of the process of recertifying the product or ensuring it is compliant, that the manufacturer has done all that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: I will try to understand it in other terms. If I am a homeowner who has bought my home from a builder that has used a product that the NBCMSO, through an inspection or testing, has found may be defective, will I find that out? I take it I will not find out, from what Mr. Butler is saying but that the person who built the homes will find out there could be a problem. It is up to that person...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: Has that happened in the work the NBCMSO has done?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: However, it could happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: Was the substance of the very serious statements made by Aidan O'Connell at this committee earlier this year, some of which Deputy Ó Broin read out, investigated? If so, what was the outcome of those investigations?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: I have a question for the NSAI about the withdrawal of certificates of conformity. How many such withdrawals have there been under the construction products regulation?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: That is since the NBCMSO was set up. How long has the office been in place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: Have any economic operators been prosecuted or penalised for their actions? The NSAI referenced in its statement that it can happen.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: I do not mind Ms Phelan helping but the question is really for the NSAI.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: I understood from the NSAI statement that economic operators can be prosecuted or penalised.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: Maybe I got that from the NBCMSO. If professionals working in the sector come across the use of or have concerns about defective materials, is there any requirement or mechanism to report it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: However, there is no requirement on anyone working in the sector to do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: In the case in which a professional in the construction sector may sign confidentiality clauses with whomever he or she is working, does that inhibit the professional?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Issues Relating to Quarries and Deleterious Materials: Discussion (6 Dec 2022)

Cian O'Callaghan: In the view of the Department, the NSAI and the NBCMSO, are the processes around this sufficiently strong and robust? Are there areas on which improvement is needed and, if so, which areas? I ask the NSAI to respond followed by the Department, if there is time. If not, we can return to the question.