Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the Fingal County Council commissioned Report on the 2007 fire at Ayrside, Swords, County Dublin, in timber framed apartments where inadequate and or deficient fire/smoke barriers allowed smoke to travel throughout a block of apartments; and his further views on the implications for fire safety compliance and public safety. [5564/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The report in question was commissioned by the local authority concerned having regard to its own statutory functions as a Building Control Authority and as a Fire Authority, and any further action in relation to the report or its contents will be a matter for Fingal County Council in line with its standard arrangements for dealing with such matters. Neither I nor my Department has any function in relation to assessing, checking or testing compliance, or otherwise, of specific works or developments under the Building Control Acts or the Fire Safety Acts.

Since 1 June 1992, all new, extended or materially altered buildings, including those which have timber frame structures, must be built in compliance with the requirements of the national Building Regulations. Primary responsibility for compliance with the requirements of the Building Regulations rests with the designers, builders and owners of buildings. Implementation and enforcement of the building control system is a matter for the local building control authority.

My Department is currently engaged in a review of Part B – Fire Safety of the Building Regulations and the accompanying Technical Guidance Document B which advises how the legal requirements in relation to fire safety can be achieved in practice. The question of the appropriate future regulatory requirements for all buildings, including timber frame buildings, will be addressed as part of this review. Any proposals for change will be subject to a comprehensive public consultation process and a rigorous Regulatory Impact Assessment in due course prior to their being signed into law.