Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)
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317. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if her Department will ensure that local authority building control departments enforce compliance with the 2014 Building Control Code of Practice; and the measures which are in place to prevent non-compliance in domestic construction. [52624/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The design and construction of buildings is regulated under the Building Control Acts in order to ensure the safety, health and welfare of people within the built environment. The Acts provide for the making of Building Regulations, Building Control Regulations and also set out the legislative basis for the system of enforcement.

The Building Control Regulations provide for matters of procedure, administration and control for the purposes of securing the implementation of, and compliance with, the performance requirements of the Building Regulations.

My Department has published a Code of Practice for Inspecting and Certifying Buildings and Works (September 2016). This replaces the Code of Practice dated February 2014. The purpose of the Code of Practice is to provide guidance with respect to inspecting and certifying works or a building for compliance with the requirements of the Second Schedule to the Building Regulations. Where works or a building to which the Building Control Regulations apply are inspected and certified in accordance with the guidance contained in this Code of Practice, this shall, prima facie, indicate compliance with the relevant requirements of the Building Control Regulations.

The primary responsibility for compliance with the requirements of the Building Regulations rests with the designers, builders and owners of buildings. Enforcement of the Building Regulations and Building Control Regulations is delegated under the Building Control Act to the local building control authorities (i.e. the 31 local authorities) who are independent in the exercise of their statutory powers.