Department seeks new building authority to avoid defect scandals
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The Department of Housing will seek to establish a Building Standards Regulatory Authority in a bid to avoid future building defect scandals.
It is envisaged that the authority would strengthen oversight of both the design and construction of buildings, including the marketing and use of construction products, and it is hoped that it will reduce the risk of future building failures and recurring defects such as the pyrite and mica scandals.
Cabinet will hear from Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien that the regulator will "further develop consistency in the application of building control", related EU legislation, and drive compliance with legislative provisions.
As it will take time to draft and pass the primary legislation, a Building Standards Agency will be established in the meantime to speed up the development of the authority's governance structures.
The agency will also increase inspection capacity by recruiting technical staff to support local authorities.
The issue of mica will see the State pay out €2.7bn to homeowners whose homes were built with crumbling blocks.
The Government’s Defective Concrete Blocks scheme offers grants of up to €420,000 per dwelling to repair or rebuild them. Homes in counties Clare, Donegal, Limerick, and Mayo are covered under the scheme — with Sligo due to be added.
Cabinet will also discuss a memo from Taoiseach Simon Harris from the expert group on probate and conveyancing.
The group work was identified as necessary in the Housing For All action plan in order to reduce costs and delays and to make housing stock available to the market quicker than it currently is.
The report is set to recommend a national target of eight weeks for both probate and conveyancing, more digitisation of the processes, legal change to remove outdated processes, and public awareness campaigns around the processes.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Norma Foley is bringing a memo to Cabinet which will see the publication of a new Traveller and Roma Education Strategy.
While the number of Traveller and Roma young people completing senior cycle in schools has improved in recent years, their educational outcomes remain lower than the general population.
A Pavee Point report found that, of the cohort of Travellers entering post-primary in 2016, 72% went on to sit the Junior Certificate and 31.4% sat the Leaving Certificate by 2022.
The six-year strategy includes a target to significantly increase the numbers of Traveller and Roma young people remaining in school to sixth year and achieving a Leaving Certificate.
It has been devised in conjunction with the Department of Children, Equality and Integration and the Department of Further and Higher Education.