Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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28. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider including architectural technologists on the list of registers identified under the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19461/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The statutory certificates of compliance prescribed under the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 must be signed by a registered professional i.e. a person who is included on the statutory registers of architects or building surveyors maintained by the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI) and the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) respectively in line with the Building Control Act 2007 or the register of chartered engineers established by Engineers Ireland (EI) under the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland (Charter Amendment) Act 1969. Architects, Building Surveyors and Chartered Engineers are the construction professions typically involved in the design of construction works in Ireland and reference to these professions in regulation is entirely appropriate.

Neither I nor my Department has any role in the assessment or validation of professional qualifications which is a matter for the professional bodies in their role as registration bodies under the Acts referred to above and as competent authorities for the purposes of the mutual recognition of professional qualifications in line with EU and national law.

There is no question of persons who are not included on the statutory registers being permitted to sign certificates of compliance.

Depending on their personal circumstances , it may be open to Architectural Technologists , who possess the requisite experience and competence in the design of buildings, to seek inclusion on either of the statutory registers. This would enable a person to sign statutory certificates of compliance as provided for under the new regulations. 

Architectural Technologists who consider they possess the requisite competence in the design of construction works should contact EI, RIAI and SCSIin order to identify the route to registration most suited to their own individual circumstances.