Tighter enforcement of building regulations demanded

Fianna Fáil councillor Gerry Murray raised the issue at Monday"s meeting of Cavan County Council. He lamented the fact that Departmental inspectors weren"t able to carry out necessary inspections due to being bogged down in paperwork related to a plethora of housing grant schemes. Mr. Murray stated that the Building Control Act 1990 and 2007 gave power to the Local Authority in relation to enforcement and inspection. Standards He had placed the issue of Building Standards and Control on the agenda because it was clear that the standard of construction in some specific cases had dropped over the last decade or so. 'I do remember within the last two decades a total of eleven new churches that were erected and seven of those eleven had to have their rooves replaced. I remember three specific schools being erected and recall those three schools requiring their rooves to be replaced,' he said. Cllr. Murray said that he raised the matter of building standards and control at a meeting of the Border Regional Authority and was contradicted by another member who pointed out that the roof on one of the three schools concerned had to be replaced on three occasions. 'I don"t want to sound like Prince Charles who is always knocking architects and engineers; we all make errors but these seem to be far too frequent. 'There were seven domestic dwellings privately constructed not far from the county town and the only engineering certificate that could be got for them was for to demolish them. That is a terrible state of affairs. One must have great sympathy for young people who purchase expensive sites, get houses to an advanced stage and then realise that they are virtually worthless. I know that with all the different regulations, there is an awful lot of paper work out there but I am completely bewildered to know where is the enforcement?' asked Cllr. Murray. No time The Lavey based elected representative said that an officer from the Department of Local Government addressed a recent meeting of the Border Regional Authority during which he explained the duties of a Housing Inspector from the Department. The officer related that currently the duties of Housing Inspectors were entirely taken up by tax relief schemes. He proceeded to list out all of the different schemes which included the Rural Renewal Scheme, the Town Renewal Scheme, the Urban scheme, the Third Level grant scheme, the Living Over The Shop scheme and the Park and Ride scheme. However, Cllr. Murray said that he would like the Local Authority to revisit its responsibilities with regard to building control. 'Perhaps the Executive would explain to us what really is the responsibility of that Departmental section. There is a great need to allow the section to develop, with fresh thinking and to have it properly resourced. I am not at all happy with the situation that pertains out there particularly for private domestic dwellings at the moment,' he stated. Cllr. Danny Brady agreed with Gerry Murray. He was also aware of schools and churches that lasted less than 20 years. 'There is something wrong. You have council houses constructed years ago and we are all the time spending money on them. I knew of a house built 30 years ago and the floor sank three inches within two years. Someone was failing in their duty at that time', said Cllr. Brady. Fine Gael"s Paddy O"Reilly, Virginia, stated that there were fine churches in the county that were demolished including a number designed by renowned architect, William Hague, such as the church in Ballinagh. It was replaced by a church that they were trying to build again and again, he said. He knew of another church, which was built to replace a demolished Hague church and the roof on it had be redone three times. 'Parishioners keep forking out because they are told to do so from on high,' said Cllr. O"Reilly. He claimed that the same was happening with regard to the schools programme and in his view some contractors had an awful lot to answer for. There should be more stringent rules in relation to this type of development where the cost was borne or partially borne by members of the community. The Council"s Director of Service (Planning and Infrastructure), Seamus Neely, said that it was a very wide subject and, in the past, the enforcement authority had to proceed through the DPP but recent legislation removed the necessity to involve the DPP. The Planning Authority was involved in deciding what was permissible in terms of location and the suitability of a particular development but in terms of the actual design of a building and its construction and certification that has always been the responsibility of the client, he stated. Mr. Neely went on to state that the Planning Authority did have a role in enforcing building control standards in specific areas including the provision of access for those who were physically impaired. With regard to housing and public buildings constructed for the council, Mr. Neely said that the council had robust mechanisms in place to ensure that such buildings were constructed to a very high standard. Houses built by the council compared very favourably with other houses on the market in terms of their robustness, he said.