David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the regulations governing funfairs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26531/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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The Planning and Development (Certification of Fairground Equipment) Regulations 2003 put in place procedures and checks to ensure that funfair equipment cannot be operated in Ireland without a valid safety certificate. Under those Regulations, the requirement to have safety certificates came into force on 1 March 2004. Responsibility for obtaining a certificate lies with the organisers of funfairs and/or owners of fairground equipment.

Applications for certificates of safety must be made to an authorised person designated by the Minister and a separate application must be made for each piece of fairground equipment. Certificates are valid for a period of up to 14 months.Since the Regulations came into force, a panel of up to six persons have been authorised under their provisions to carry out inspections and grant certificates of safety. These appointments resulted from expressions of interest being sought by my Department for suitably qualified and experienced personnel. My Department will shortly advertise seeking further expressions of interest with a view to appointing additional authorised persons.

The Regulations provide that when a certificate of safety is granted by an authorised person, a copy of the certificate is sent, inter alia, to my Department. In 2010 certificates of safety were issued to 45 companies and individuals covering numerous specific items of fairground equipment.