Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank him for coming to the Seanad. I welcome this Bill. Its main purpose is to raise standards in the construction industry, which is badly needed. There has been a legacy from cowboys, as Father Ted would say, with lots of people having got away with low standards. This is an important Bill to undo that. Having a proper register is welcomed by all the builders and building suppliers I know. They are the ones doing a good job. They have often been left to deal with the mess that has been left behind by cowboys. Plain and simple, this is an important Bill.

The complaints mechanism is very good. I will not even begin to talk about the pyrite and mica situation because we have discussed it at length. I have been in contact with the Minister again about the Clare houses being included in the scheme. Clare County Council and departmental officials have met and are working on getting more proof for the Department that the Clare houses are defective and will be included in the scheme as soon as possible, to put people's minds at rest.

It is important that the register remains independent. I trust that this will be of paramount importance and a priority for the Department when establishing it. In the programme for Government, under planning and reform, we said we would examine the creation of an independent building standards regulator to oversee building controls nationwide and to act as custodian of the building control management system. That is what the Minister of State is doing today. He is delivering on a promise made in the programme for Government. It is important for people to know that this coalition Government is doing well on all the promises we made. They were not empty promises based on false economics. These are things that we are manifesting and we are going to make this a better country.

Many people I know have been affected by bad building and bad building materials. The good builders and the good building suppliers who have always sought to do things well have been tarnished with the same brush, so it is good that this legislation will separate the men from the cowboys. The industry is struggling and we need builders more than we ever have previously because of the housing crisis and the opportunities with retrofitting, so it is important that we do all we can to support the good builders and the good tradesmen.

To that end, I wish to refer to an issue that will arise, although it has already been flagged. Many building contractors had put in quotes for building projects for the State and others and, unfortunately, those costs have gone up exponentially. I am aware that some recompensation was done retrospectively last year, but it does not appear to be enough in many cases. Some builders might have to get out of the industry altogether. We will have to examine that. The State cannot bail out everybody all the time for whatever reason, but that will be a serious issue. Builders will have to be paid more because the cost of materials has increased so much. I do not know if the State can afford to bail them out completely or how it can do it, but we have to take the issue seriously because we have to build 33,000 houses. There are thousands of houses to retrofit and it is hoped that with the new derelict buildings legislation we will be able to get many more unused buildings back into use. However, we need tradesmen and builders for that. They are probably the most important workforce in Ireland at present so we need to hold onto as many of them as possible and to encourage many more people to get involved as well. This Bill is welcome because it will support the people who have been doing it well and who will continue to do it well.

There is another matter that I would like the Minister of State to refer back to the Department. I have been raising it since my first week in the Seanad. The Safe Pass programme is still not available online. Builders still regularly ring me to say that their lads cannot go off to Roscommon at the last minute on a Tuesday to do it. There is a backlog of people who need a Safe Pass. This has been done online in England for years. I have been in contact with SOLAS several times but I have had no luck. This is not a complicated thing. The Safe Pass should be available online and done quickly. We have a housing crisis and a building crisis. We need to recruit as many young people as possible. Where people have to update their Safe Pass or need a new Safe Pass, it should not be a barrier. I ask the Minister of State to refer that back to the Department and perhaps contact the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, or the Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Niall Collins. I do not know who the person is, but I have been asking anybody and everybody.The safe pass needs to go online. We are going to have some serious issues with builders walking off sites if we do not address the rising cost of materials as much as we can.

I thank the Minister of State for putting forward the Bill, which is very important for the construction industry.