Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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188. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 1816 of 16 January 2018, if the issuing of BER certificates has been used in residential unit completion data; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3604/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The data received and published by my Department in respect of ESB connections does not include any variable which would enable matching the dataset with BER certificates and, as such, there is no direct link between the output arising and any dataset in the public domain which is based on these certificates, nor is the data received from the ESB in any way adjusted to reflect the number of BER certificates submitted at any point in time. The BER database is a useful additional data set that my Department utilises to monitor housing activity and quality across the State generally, but the EBS connections data currently provides a more timely and all-encompassing data set for the purpose of measuring housing activity. It is, however, recognised that the ESB data may include some element of reconnections, as set out in the reply to Question no. 1816 of 16th January 2018, and my Department continues to work with the Central Statistics Office and the ESB in this respect.