Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 October 2022
236. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will outline any changes to law or to procedures that have been or will be made, in order to ensure that homeowners will in future have effective remedies in the event of damage caused by defective construction or materials. [50960/22]
View answerIn response to the difficulties that homeowners are facing due to the presence of deleterious material in their houses, my Department has put a number of measures in place to support homeowners including providing considerable financial assistance to remediate their homes. These include the Pyrite Remediation Scheme and the Defective Concrete Blocks Scheme, both of which are underpinned by legislation.
In regard to defects in purpose-built apartment buildings, including duplexes, constructed between 1991 and 2013, following receipt of the report of the working group I established to examine this issue, I am currently developing options which I intend to bring to Government before the end of the year with a view to providing support for homeowners who find themselves in a difficult financial situation through no fault of their own.
In addition, a range of building control reforms which focus on ensuring strong and effective regulation in the building control system and the construction industry and on improving compliance with Building Regulations have been implemented. This includes:
a. implementation of the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 9 of 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 NSAI).
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.
To further support the building control system, preparatory work is progressing on establishing an independent Building Standards Regulator to oversee building control nationwide and to act as custodian of the Building Control Management System.
Other significant pieces of redress and producers’ liability legislation which may apply to construction products are the Sale of Goods Act 1893 and the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act 1980; and the Liability for Defective Products Act 1991 which fall under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
