Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

That is a fact.

I emphasise that the Government does not have a preference for any particular form of house building. The Irish Timber Frame Manufacturers Association and the Department are co-operating closely to implement a package of measures to facilitate timber frame construction as recommended in a report on timber frame housing in Ireland commissioned by the Department. We are also considering steel frame building.

The Private Members' motion is critical of the transitional exemptions from the 2003 revised Part L standards of new dwellings for which planning permission was applied for on or before 31 December 2002 provided the dwellings concerned were substantially completed by 31 December 2005. Such transitional exemptions are a common feature of major changes in the building code and are designed to avoid delays in the commencement of new houses which are at an advanced stage of planning.