Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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808.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to outline the process through which BER assessments are carried out is regulated; the process when a BER assessment is found to have awarded an incorrect BER rating and if this impacts the ability of the assessor to continue to carry out assessments or if any retraining is required.[34492/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) is the statutory agency responsible for the implementation and management of the Building Energy Rating (BER) Scheme in accordance with Ireland’s obligations under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (Recast).

Building Energy Rating assessors (“BER Assessors”) and Display Energy Certificate Assessors (“DEC assessors”) are persons registered with the SEAI to carry out BER/DEC assessments in line with the requirements of the Directive and it's implementing regulations which are available at the following link:www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2012/si/243/made/en/pdf

A code of practice, www.seai.ie/publications/BER-Assessor-Code-of-Practice.pdf, is in place to ensure that BER/DEC Assessors have a clear understanding of their obligations to deliver a high-quality service in the marketplace.

Assessors are obliged to undertake Continuous Professional Development. The SEAI may, at any time, suspend and/or terminate a BER/DEC Assessor’s registration if it has formed the opinion that the Assessor has ceased to be capable of performing his/her functions under the Regulations properly.

The SEAI has put in place a quality assurance system for BER/DEC Assessors, and a related disciplinary procedure pursuant to its powers under the Regulations. All registered BER/DEC Assessors are subject to audit and selection of BER/DEC Assessors for audit is on both a targeted and random basis.

The BER Quality Assurance (QA) System is used to continuously monitor the quality of BER assessments published by BER/DEC Assessors. It also ensures widespread operational compliance with the BER Assessor's Code of Practice.

The following methods are used to maintain the quality assurance of BER and DEC; entry/upstream measures such as training, induction module and mentoring, In-line delivery measures such as data input validation rules and downstream/feedback measures including auditing.

When a BER is found to be incorrect and is revoked the BER/DEC Assessor may be directed to do any or all of the following pursuant to Regulation 17(1)(h) of the 2012 Regulations:

• Inform the BER/DEC client and other affected persons of the error and revocation;
• Request the BER/DEC client to destroy all printed copies of the revoked BER/DEC certificate and accompanying advisory report;
• Re-submit a BER/DEC data file with correct values;
• Re-submit the BER/DEC for publication, at the BER/DEC assessor's own expense; and/or
• Provide the BER/DEC client with the replacement BER/DEC certificate.