Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 10 is very similar and effectively seeks to do the same. We support Sinn Féin's amendment, particularly as Sinn Féin designates and specifies the national building control office. This was also raised in the Dáil. It is a very dangerous precedent effectively to have a lobby group serve as regulator under this legislation. We see today from FOI requests that were released to Deputy Cian O'Callaghan that the CIF had a huge input into the drafting of this Bill. I appeal to the Minister that in setting up statutory building control to ensure the lobby group would not have responsibility for the register.We have seen things such as what happened in 2016, for example, where the Construction Industry Federation promised that if we reduced minimum standards, it would increase supply, which did not happen. It is very established as a lobby group on behalf of the construction industry. It is not appropriate that it would be responsible for maintaining the register. We are supportive of the Sinn Féin amendment because it specifies where it feels the register should be.