Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 512: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the process which is being put in place for the inspection of properties to establish their efficiency rating; and the way in which it is envisaged that the inspection system will be monitored. [30492/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In accordance with the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive-EPBD (2002/91/EC of 16 December 2002), Building Energy Rating (BER) will be required for newly constructed buildings and for existing buildings when sold or let. BER will become mandatory, on a phased basis, over the period 2007-2009.

BER will be required for new dwellings commencing on or after 1 January 2007. To avoid disruption of the house-building programme, there will a transitional exemption from BER of new dwellings for which planning permission was applied for on or before 30 June 2006, provided the new dwellings involved are substantially completed by 30 June 2008.

BER will be issued by registered assessors who have successfully completed a training programme that:

(a) meet the requirements of a Training Specification to be published this week and as proposed in the EPBD Action Plan; and

(b) has been validated by a national accreditation body e.g. Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC), Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC).

A comprehensive Quality Assurance (QA) system is being put in place, which will involve quality control of calculation procedures, software validation, error detection, auditing of assessors and ratings etc.