Cyprian Brady (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome the introduction of the Bill. The legislation deals with a complex area, namely, the quality and sustainability of our housing and public buildings. The measures to be put in place, and some of those already in place, will ensure the future quality and sustainability of our buildings. As the Minister pointed out, we have high standards in this country regarding the way buildings are designed and built. This legislation will reinforce many of the measures in place and, for that reason, it is to be welcomed.

The Bill is good news in particular for people with disabilities. There have been major strides forward in the past ten years in terms of access and services for people with a disability and this Bill is another step forward in that regard. The disability representative groups and bodies will say that those with a disability do not want to be treated differently from other people. They want to be treated equally. My experience of dealing with various disability groups is that they accept that major changes have taken place.

However, able-bodied people can only imagine how it feels not to have access to a public or private building. It is only by talking to such groups and the various representative organisations that we get a feel for what it must be like not to have equal access to certain public buildings, including cinemas, pubs and clubs. The changes made in the Bill will be welcomed by the majority of the bodies concerned. I welcome that all new buildings will be required to be certified as having disability access. I agree with basing it on the same lines as the fire certifications.

Senator Bannon mentioned the Stardust tragedy and there have been other incidences which, fortunately, have been less grievous. Certification and enforcement of fire safety regulations is crucial, especially in public buildings that hold large crowds for sporting or social occasions. The licensing and certification of the safety of people who use these premises is crucial. Over the years, we have had issues with compliance and the enforcement of regulation, particularly in the area of fire safety. The resources have been invested in this area in recent times, especially in the local authorities. The fire chiefs and the fire services in the local authorities have responsibility for enforcement and inspection to ensure compliance with the required conditions for fire safety. The Bill makes it easier to enforce safety regulation by supporting the fire safety authorities, which is a welcome introduction.

Following the Stardust tragedy changes were made. The public need to have confidence in our fire safety regulation and its enforcement. I welcome that people now have far more leisure time and are spending more time in public places. This legislation will ensure the safety and protection of those people.

I wish to speak about apartments. The past ten years have seen an explosion in the development of apartment dwellings in my area. There are plans for up to 10,000 more units in the next five to eight years. They represent a different way of living for people given that we have always had a culture and tradition of two-up two-down, semi-detached or detached houses on a small piece of land. That has changed dramatically in recent times. Incentives were given to developers to provide accommodation when it was really needed and people were crying out for decent housing. At the time, I remember the argument was whether the apartments being developed then would become the slums of the future. Most of the apartment complexes that were built ten to 15 years ago have proved to be anything but slums. They are well built, well maintained and well managed. People are quite happy to live in them in an urban setting in the centre of Dublin city.

However, this does not apply to all apartment complexes. Some of them have fallen through the net and have been of very poor quality. Some of them have major issues regarding the materials used and with the functionality of lifts, electrics, windows, etc. However, in my experience the majority of apartment developments are completed to a very high quality. While there are issues regarding size and the numbers of bedrooms, such matters are being addressed by the Department on an ongoing basis. A number of reviews are taking place into apartment quality, size and the facilities that accompany apartment buildings.

This legislation will ensure that all apartments built in the future will be sustainable. In a small number of the complexes in Dublin, the apartments were not sustainable. There were no common areas, access was very bad, and very little parking space was provided in a number of them. Simple matters such as storage areas, including hot presses and space to store kitchen utensils, can be crucial to people living in apartments. The issue of noise and its abatement also arises. Apartments represent a cultural change for people and we are still coming to terms with it. In countries like France, apartment dwelling is a natural part of life and has been for many years. We need to ensure that apartment complexes, whose residents are forming very organised, settled communities, continue to be sustainable in the future. All the services that we enjoy in suburbia, including schools, shops, etc., should be provided. I welcome the huge improvement in the quality and design of apartments and the materials used in the past ten years.

The Bill introduces measures regarding professional qualifications. When people hire the services of a professional, such as a dentist, general practitioner or architect, they expect that professional to be fully qualified and a legitimate practitioner of that profession. Over time, there have been questions about who is qualified and who can use titles such as architect and building surveyor. The Bill finally gives people getting a small extension built at the back of a house, business people investing in a business and developers building housing of any kind recourse to verifying on a register that the person they hire for a professional service is a legitimate practitioner. The Bill will provide an element of comfort to people hiring the professional services of an architect, quantity surveyor or building surveyor. I welcome the sections that provide for the management of such professions. Each of those areas will have a technical assessment board, a professional conduct committee and an appeals board. At the end of that process in the case of a dispute, people will have recourse to the courts.

In any fair system that would be legitimate. If somebody wants to employ a professional, he or she needs to have a guarantee that person is properly qualified in the area in which he or she is practising. If there is a problem with the service being provided, there needs to be a place to which one can go to make inquiries and remedy the situation and, if not, to take some action. That is a legitimate right for anybody who employs a professional. The safeguards provided in the Bill will ensure professionals who provide that service will have to comply with the regulations and that it will be in their own interest to do so.

The codes of conduct and fitness to practise sections will ensure the service being provided by these professions will be at the standards required. We are complying with EU directives in respect of qualifications and professional qualifications, in particular those of other member states. That can be of benefit to us. We need quantity surveyors, town planners and people to help us plan into the future. If we cannot get them in this country, we will have to them elsewhere. The legislation will ensure everybody is on a level playing pitch. The way in which it is framed will be to our benefit in the long run.