John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 399: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 65 of the 31 March 2011, the cost to him of the two boards mentioned; the payments made to each board member and the chairperson; the future costs of the appeals board and professional practice committee once appointed; if he has considered a more cost effective and efficient way of dealing with this type of registration in view of the fact that to date there is only one application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9310/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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The day to day administration of the register for architects provided for under Part 3 of the Building Control Act 2007 is carried out by the Royal Institution of Architects of Ireland in its capacity as the designated registration body. All costs are met from funds arising from fees charged for the purposes of registration and no direct costs to the Exchequer arise from the operation of the register.

My Department does not maintain details of payments to individual board members. A fee equivalent to €9,000 per annum is currently paid to the chairpersons of both the Admissions Board and the Technical Assessment Board and a similar arrangement will apply in the case of the chairpersons of the Appeals Board and the Professional Practice Committee once the necessary appointment are made in the near future. No fee is paid to other members of the relevant boards or committees but vouched expenses may be claimed.

I have no plans to change the arrangements for registration as set out in the Building Control Act 2007. My Department has liaised closely with the registration body to ensure that robust arrangements for the registration of architects are achieved in practice in a cost effective and efficient manner and this will continue to be the case.