merrion street

Mayor Lombard,

President of the SCSI,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to join you at your first annual dinner as the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, following the successful merger of the IAVI and the SCS earlier this year. 

 The merger opens up new opportunities and exciting possibilities for you and your industry.  You now have a chance to break with the past, bringing with you all that is good, while striving to create and become the organisation you ultimately want to be. 

Those of you who’ve been in the construction and property industry as long as I’ve been in politics can remember a time when both professions were held in high esteem and enjoyed the full respect and trust of our fellow citizens.

However, the impact of our economic meltdown has damaged public confidence in all the established pillars of society and all professions must now work harder than ever to earn the public’s respect.

For this reason, construction professionals, no less than bankers or politicians, must reflect on their role in the boom and bust years and learn the lessons necessary to protect our society and economy from revisiting such devastation in future. 

I note the Society’s new mission includes enhancing, advancing and enforcing professional standards in the construction, land and property sectors.  I strongly urge you to give full reign to this aspect of your mission. 

You’re newly consolidated strength of 4,000 members means you are ideally placed to positively influence standards in the industry.  If you are determined and courageous enough, you can change the culture and the business practices that have ultimately failed to serve the best interests of the public or yourselves.  

A significant reform is coming in the form of the Property Services (Regulation) Bill. This Bill, sponsored by my colleague Minister Shatter, was recently approved by the Dáil and is currently before the Seanad.   It will formally establish the Property Services Regulatory Authority to control and supervise the activities of property service providers.  It also provides for a register of sales prices for residential property and a database of commercial leases both of which will help restore much-needed confidence in the property market.

All in all this legislation is a strong signal that the era of light touch regulation in the property market is over. 

There is no doubt that the boom has left us with a legacy of very poor built environments.  

Ireland has many fine towns and a strong tradition of good urban design and the southern region itself is not short of its shining examples in this regard.

But in recent years, we lost sight of that. We invested in “developments” rather that “communities” and forgot how the quality of our built environment determines the quality of our everyday lives.  Unfortunately too many homeowners and tenants understand this to their detriment today as they are left, through no fault of their own, to struggle with the consequences of unfinished estates, pyrite problems and defective developments.

Understandably this has led to much public debate on the role and functioning of the building control system and I, as Minister, have been subject to close questioning in the Oireachtas and in the media and rightly so.

The Government and I have a responsibility to guide and regulate development; but there is a point where it’s up to the professions to take over and ensure that the planning, design, and construction of our built environment is of the highest quality. 

Construction professionals play a key role in developing, certifying and marketing buildings.  Where these buildings prove to be less than fit for purpose, such individuals should not be immune from criticism and should be held accountable for the consequences of their actions by society

by their profession.  I have been disappointed to witness the seeming lack of attention being paid to this objective reality by the professional bodies in their recent public statements.

 The State has a clear statutory framework for construction activity: 

• Clear legal standards are set out in the Building Regulations
• Detailed Technical Guidance Documents outline how these standards can be achieved in practice. 
• The responsibility for compliance rests with developers/builders.
• Professionals who are engaged by developers are required to ensure that construction at least meets the legal minimum standards.
• Local authorities are responsible for enforcing compliance with the building regulations

In recent times we have seen the worst effects of failure to deliver buildings that meet our minimum standards.  

 A robust system of building control does exist and local authorities are successfully using their powers against non-compliant operators.  As Minister I welcome this and urge local authorities to continue to use all of the powers currently available to them.

 Equally there is an urgent need for the construction professions to step up to the plate in terms of fulfilling their aspiration, and indeed their obligation, to deliver high standards and professionalism in the construction, land and property sector.  

From a regulatory perspective, there is much that can be done to improve the current building control system. 

 In July of this year I announced a number of measures that will improve compliance with the requirements of the Building Regulations and oversight of construction activity.

 Firstly, I will introduce mandatory certificates confirming compliance by designers and builders with the statutory requirements of the Building Regulations.

 These mandatory certificates will mean what they say and will be signed by professionals who understand and accept their responsibilities and the liability that goes with the consequences of failing to meet those responsibilities.

Secondly, all stakeholders, myself included, tend to agree that a more rigorous inspection regime is urgently needed.  I have therefore approved proposals that will involve pooling of building control staff and resources across the local authority sector to ensure more efficient and effective inspection arrangements.

 Thirdly, my Department will work closely with local authorities to standardise local approaches in order to ensure nationwide consistency in building control administration.

The regulations required to give effect to mandatory certification will be released shortly for industry and public consultation.  In tandem with increased inspection activity by local authorities and by industry, this will significantly strengthen our system. 

I would like to emphasise the importance of ongoing partnership between Government and industry.  Society cannot function without a healthy construction industry and economic growth ultimately requires a certain construction capacity.  We need to be realistic, of course, about what that capacity should be. 

Employment in construction has fallen from 272,000 persons in 2007 to about 100,000 persons today.  While we need to get people back to work, clearly employment opportunities in domestic construction are unlikely to return to the levels seen around 2007.  

We need to look outside of ourselves for opportunities.

One potential solution lies in driving innovation through setting high standards.  The most recent Part L regulations, for instance, which I signed into law earlier this year and which become effective on the first of December, will mean that new homes will henceforth be 60% more energy efficient than those built in 2005.  This step change brings Ireland to the very forefront of EU member states in terms of the statutory energy performance standards for dwellings. 

There are already signs that industry in Ireland has begun to develop innovative energy-saving products and systems for use in dwellings in anticipation of such changes.  This will reduce the need to import such technologies and may provide export opportunities in future years.

The learning and experience associated with the mass market deployment of innovative products can itself be a marketable commodity.

This is just one example of how regulatory standards can raise ambition and drive innovation.  Continued cooperation between Government and Industry in this way can be an economic game-changer.   For its part, government will continue to maintain momentum towards driving energy efficiency which I know is a vital interest for your sector.

It is also important that we continue to invest in economic, environmental and social infrastructure.   Again we have to be realistic about what we can afford and we must be careful about to prioritise investments wisely. Despite tight constraints, the Government has committed to a Capital Investment Framework that will see the investment of €17bn between now and 2016.   During this period my own Department will oversee the investment of €3.3bn in water, waste-water, environmental and social housing infrastructure. 

Beyond this medium term programme conditions should become more conducive to increased levels of investment in productive infrastructure.

On that note I will conclude by wishing the SCSI well with its own development agenda and individual delegates every success in their own professional lives.   I look forward to ongoing constructive engagement with industry at this critical juncture for our economy and a meeting next week between your national representatives and Departmental officials will see this process continue.

Thank you.