Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

142. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the regulations surrounding the construction and renovation of buildings to use for emergency accommodation. [32379/15]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Building Control Act 1990 places a statutory obligation on owners, designers and builders to ensure that a building is designed and constructed in accordance with the requirements of the Building Regulations.

No special provisions relating to emergency accommodation per se are outlined under the Building Control Act 1990 or the regulations made thereunder. However, given that such accommodation would necessarily be intended for habitation by vulnerable persons, compliance with minimum legal safety requirements is of the utmost importance.

The aim of the Building Regulations is to provide for the safety and welfare of people in and about buildings and the regulations apply to new buildings (including a dwelling) or to an existing building which is undergoing works involving an extension, an upgrade, a material alteration or a material change of use. The minimum performance requirements that a building must achieve are set out in the Second Schedule to the Building Regulations. These requirements are set out in 12 parts (classified as Parts A to M) and a Technical Guidance Document is published to accompany each part of the Building Regulations indicating how the legal requirements of that part can be achieved in practice. Copies of the Technical Guidance Documents are available by on my Department’s website by clicking on the following weblink -

The regulation of building activity is not confined to the Building Control Acts and regulations made thereunder. Depending on the nature of the development concerned, additional obligations arising under the Planning and Development Acts, the Housing Acts, the Fire Safety Acts, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, and the Multi-Unit Development Act, may also need to be considered.