Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

There is no doubt that hollow block construction can be used without any problem, but it requires twice as long as cavity wall insulation. In a booming property market, it is no surprise that everyone wants to slap houses up quicker, that shortcuts are made, and that inspectors are not present, as Senator Tuffy said. Under such circumstances, we have a problem.

We have built 250,000 houses in the past seven years in the greater Dublin area with insufficient thermal efficiency by the Government's own measure. If one speaks to builders in London, Brussels or anywhere else in Europe, they laugh when told that the Irish Government permits nine-inch hollow block construction. One is laughed out of court, and the request under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 to which Senator O'Toole referred when moving the motion confirmed that the then Minister of State, the former Deputy, Bobby Molloy, was told that in 1998.

This is a serious issue, and the Government has allowed 250,000 houses to be built in Dublin over the past seven or eight years to an insufficient thermal standard, since it failed to outlaw the practice of nine-inch hollow-block construction. I am very happy that Senator O'Toole used this forum to comment tonight under parliamentary privilege.

The last time I raised this issue, in 1999, I received three threatening legal letters from the product's manufacturers regarding what they felt were my outrageous remarks concerning that form of construction. I am therefore glad to use the privilege of this House to record what most people in this country do not know, namely, that if one lives in Dublin, one has an inferior house because the Government refused to enforce the decent thermal efficiency standards that apply everywhere else in the country.

When preparing for this motion, I spoke to the architect who heads local authority housing at South Dublin County Council about nine-inch hollow block construction. He told me that not a single local authority house had been built in Ireland in the past ten years using nine-inch hollow blocks. The method is simply not used; again one would be laughed at. The building standards for social housing do not apply to the speculative market, and that is unacceptable. If one speaks to any group of architects, they will laugh one out of court regarding the notion that they would accede to nine-inch hollow block construction.

The case is proven, but the Minister of State is at it again tonight. When I first raised this issue, I was told that I was trying to stop housing construction in Dublin by demanding that young couples have the same standard of insulation enjoyed in Limerick, Cork and Galway. However, because it is Dublin and we must slap the houses up quicker, we are told that we should have a different standard.

I was told in 1998 that I was trying to halt housing construction in Dublin. The same argument was peddled in the House tonight in a cut-and-paste job from 1998. This is an absolute scam, and in many respects it is too late because we have allowed the situation to develop under our noses for the past eight years owing to an inept Government that refuses to confront international evidence regarding hollow block construction and is far too close to the building industry when it comes to enforcing the standards that apply elsewhere in Europe.

The biggest investment a young couple or individual will make in life is purchasing a home, and we have allowed them to buy houses in Dublin built to insufficient insulation standards. They will pay a double price when the new European regulations enter force. Not only will their house be insufficiently insulated, they will have to pay a penalty to be imposed in coming years. We must put this issue on the agenda, and I compliment the Independent group on doing so. We must highlight that the Government sat back and allowed the situation to develop. Shame on it and on the Minister of State for his reply. I hope that this issue will be top of a new Administration's agenda upon reaching office.