Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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127. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the action he is taking to ensure buildings built now and in the future are not defective; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3560/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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In the July 2022 report, Defects in Apartments: Report of the Working Group to Examine Defects in Housing,the Working Group, which I established, concluded that there is no single cause of the defects in apartments. The Working Group found that they tend to arise due to a variety of design, product, supervision, inspection and workmanship issues, occurring either in isolation or in various combinations.

In recognition of the defects and issues that have arisen, a range of building control reforms which focus on ensuring strong and effective regulation in the building control system and of the construction industry and on improving compliance with Building Regulations have been implemented over the last decade. These include:

a. Implementation of the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014. These Regulations empower competence and professionalism in construction projects and establish a chain of responsibility that begins with the owner. With certain limited exceptions, the owner must assign competent persons to design, build, inspect and certify the building works who, in turn, must account for their role through the lodgement of compliance documentation, inspection plans and statutory certificates. The roles and responsibilities of owners, designers, builders, assigned certifiers, etc. during building works are set out in the Code of Practice for Inspecting and Certifying Buildings and Works. The Code of Practice also provides guidance on use of proper materials and the need to check supporting documentation under the Construction Products Regulation (e.g Declaration of Performance) and additional national guidance (e.g. Standard Recommendations produced by National Standards Authority of Ireland).

b. the creation of the National Building Control Management Project and the establishment of the National Building Control & Market Surveillance Office to provide oversight, support and direction for the development, standardisation and implementation of Building Control as an effective shared service in the 31 Building Control Authorities.

c. The enactment in July 2022 of the Regulation of Providers of Building Works and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022. This Act develops and promotes a culture of competence, good practice and compliance with the Building Regulations in the construction sector. The Act will put the Construction Industry Register Ireland on a statutory footing and aims to benefit consumers and the general public by giving those who engage a registered builder the assurance that they are dealing with a competent and compliant operator. The Act also allows for complaints against registered builders to be made on a number of grounds – in particular an entity providing building services in a category in which they are not registered. It provides for a range of proportionate sanctions to be imposed after investigation. Complaints in relation to building regulations will continue to be dealt with under the Building Control Act.

In addition, work has commenced on considering the policy options around the establishment of an independent Building Standards Regulator. My objective is to ensure that an independent Building Standards Regulator has sufficient breadth of scope, effective powers of inspection and enforcement and an appropriate suite of sanctions.