Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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206. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the systems in place to ensure that building products such as blocks are manufactured to appropriate standards; the systems in place to ensure that materials from quarries used in building products such as blocks are appropriate for such purposes and are being secured from licensed quarries; the level of inspections by building control authorities in both matters; if such inspections are proactive to identify problems before they become apparent or reactive in response to complaints; the details of the relevant legislation, statutory instruments, circulars and EU directives; and if he will provide links or copies of same. [34390/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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In relation to the concrete blocks, the relevant suite of harmonised standard facilitating specification of masonry units is the EN 771 (series). ‘I.S. EN 771-3:2011+A1:2015’deals with aggregate concrete masonry units. In this regard, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), has published additional guidance in the form of ‘S.R. 325:2013+A2:2018/AC:2019 Recommendations for the design of masonry structures in Ireland to Eurocode 6’ which sets out appropriate minimum performance levels for specific intended uses of, inter alia, EN 771(series) in Ireland.

In respect of aggregates for concrete, NSAI has published ‘S.R. 16:2016 Guidance on the use of I.S. EN 12620:2002+A1:2008 - Aggregates for concrete’ whichoutlines the precautions to be taken in the quarry to reduce the risk of harmful impurities in aggregate production, including the requirement for independent third party oversight of factory production control by a Notified Body (a designated body that carries out third-party tasks).

Specifically relating to product legislation, since 2013, the Construction Products Directive (CPD)- 89/106/EEC has been replaced by the Construction Products Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 (CPR). It sets out rules for the marketing of construction products in the EU. Where a construction product covered by a harmonised standard is being placed on the EU market, the CPR requires the manufacturer to draw up a ‘declaration of performance’ and affix a ‘CE’ marking to the product. In order to do so, manufacturers must test and declare the performance of their construction products using a common technical language prescribed in the harmonised standard.

The manufacturer is responsible for compliance with the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) and in particular for the Declaration of Performance/CE marking of the construction product he/she is placing on the market, having full knowledge of the raw material (as is legally required by the CPR via the relevant harmonised European Standards) and having regard to the end product’s suitability for use in construction works in accordance with the relevant Standard Recommendations published by the NSAI.

Under the European Union (Construction Products) Regulations 2013 , each of the building control authorities have been designated as the principal market surveillance authorities for construction products that fall within the scope of the CPR, within their administrative areas. In addition, Dublin City Council has been appointed as a competent authority for the carrying out of market surveillance functions across the country and has created a Market Surveillance Unit called Dublin City Council-National Building Control Office, (DCC-NBCO). Building control authorities will liaise with the DCC-NBCO national market surveillance unit to support compliance with the CPR and to determine appropriate action on enforcement matters, as they arise.

In regard to inspections, my Department is currently working with the DCC-NBCO and the City and County Management Association’s (CCMA) on a revised inspection policy for building control. It is intended that the new policy will position building control authorities to carry out risk-based targeted inspections by making more efficient and effective use of the available resources. Much progress has been made in this area, an inspections protocol and methodology has been developed and a pilot IT system to support inspections has also been developed. The issue of targets and capacity will be considered further in this context.

Pursuant to Article 18(5) of Regulation (EC) 765/2008, Ireland’s National market surveillance programme 2021 is published on the website of the European Commission. Section 2.5 provides specific details with the market surveillance of construction products and outlines a market surveillance campaign led by the DCC-NBCO, which has recently commenced, to perform risk assessments of selected quarrying and pit operations, follow-up inspections, sampling and testing as appropriate to ensure compliance with the CPR.

Finally, the activity of quarrying falls under a number of legislative regimes. For example, quarries must have planning permission and from an operational perspective they must comply with health and safety regulations operated by Health and Safety Authority. In regard to the licensing of quarries, the Waste Management (Management of Waste from the Extractive Industries) Regulations 2009 came into operation on the 31 December 2009. Under Regulation 19(1) each Local Authority shall:

Establish and maintain a register of all extractive industries within its functional area including the extraction, treatment and storage of mineral resources, the working of quarries, and the extraction, treatment and storage of peat.

The overall Register is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency and is publicly available. The Environmental Protection Agency falls under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications.

While the minimum performance requirements for buildings (including the materials used) are set in the Building Regulations, the procurement and purchasing of materials is a matter for the contracting authority. Responsibility for Public Procurement policy is a matter for the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), which operates as an office of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.