George Lee (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 401: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason he has no plans to suspend Part 3 of the Building Control Act 2007 in view of the hardship that it is causing to architects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35644/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I refer to the reply to Questions Nos. 998, 1024, 1057 and 968 of 16 September 2009. I have no plans to suspend Part 3 of the Building Control Act 2007, which implements relevant Articles of the European Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications in respect of the architectural profession. Failure to implement Part 3 of the Act could leave the State in breach of its obligations under European law and potentially subject to infringement proceedings.

The registration body provided for under the Act has established an Admissions Board and a Technical Assessment Board to assess applications for registration on the statutory register. As indicated previously, the fees for technical assessment and registration are subject to my approval, prior to introduction. The details of the proposed fees were recently forwarded to me by the registration body and I will give those proposals full and careful consideration before making a decision. I will convey my decision on the fees to the relevant body in the near future. Section 17 (3) of the Building Control Act 2007 provides that the Registrar may, in cases of verified hardship, waive the requirement to pay a fee, direct that a fee of an amount lesser than the specified amount may be paid, or remit, in whole or in part, a fee paid under that section.