Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 518: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the plans in place to ensure builders will have to supply energy efficiency certificates for houses completed in 2007 and houses under construction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21697/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The European Communities (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 2006 transposed the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings into Irish law and provided for the implementation of a Building Energy Rating (BER) system.

From 1 January 2007, when a new dwelling is offered for sale or rental "off plans", a provisional BER certificate must be produced by the vendor or landlord to potential buyers or tenants, based on the pre-construction plans. When the new dwelling is completed, a BER certificate must be supplied to the tenant or purchaser based on the plans as constructed (to take account of any design changes during construction). When a new dwelling is built for a specific owner-occupier, a BER certificate must be supplied by the builder, prior to the owner taking up occupation of the dwelling.

Transitional BER exemptions apply to new dwellings for which planning permission was applied on or before 31 December 2006, where the new dwellings involved are substantially completed on or before 30 June 2008. The transitional BER exemptions were required to avoid delaying commencement of work on new buildings at an advanced stage of design and planning and to enable the roll out of a substantial number of trained and registered BER Assessors in the first half of 2007. The transitional exemptions also allowed Sustainable Energy Ireland to complete the setting up of a system for the smooth and efficient administration and oversight of the BER certification system — involving the recruitment of staff, the installation of ICT systems, etc.

The overall systems are now in place. There are 12 approved training providers; 468 persons have attended and passed Assessor training that meets the BER training specification; and 185 of these have registered with Sustainable Energy Ireland and can undertake official ratings.