Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 219: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will make a statement on the lack of building energy rating assessors for non-new houses; the reason no new assessors will be qualified until December 2009, and assessors who are currently unqualified to assess non-new houses are allowed to do so; and the further reason the cost in the UK of BER is four times lower than here and that all properties for rent or sale will require a BER in January 2009, in view of the fact that no BER assessors for non-new houses will have qualified before December 2009. [44265/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I refer to the comprehensive replies to Question No. 355 of 2 December 2008 and Question No. 14 of 27 November 2008.

To date 3,759 persons have successfully completed training courses for BER Assessors for dwellings with training providers accredited by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI). Of these trained Assessors, some 945 persons have registered with SEI as BER Assessors for new dwellings, while 510 have registered for both new and existing dwellings. SEI is confident that the numbers of trained and registered Assessors will increase considerably before 1 January next.

It is important to note that the seller or landlord pays for the BER Certificate, rather than the buyer or tenant, and that the Certificate is valid for ten years. This payment is in respect of a service provided by the BER Assessor.

The recent steady growth in the numbers of registered BER Assessors, together with the anticipated increase in the demand for BER Certificates from 1 January 2009 onwards, will ensure the ongoing development of a competitive market place for BER assessments.