Fianna Fáil Cllr Patrick Mc Gowan said while everyone wants to see tighter controls on building standards the Environment Minister’s new regulatory system to maintain a high quality standard of building for dwellings does not take into account direct build houses.
The Ballybofey councillor said nobody wants to see cowboy builders going unregulated or leaving poor quality work behind .
However he claims the regulations coming into force will penalize own-build home owners who want to construct their own family home.
“Direct build One-off homes will be hit with a regulatory framework designed for large-scale developments in major towns and cities. This will dramatically increase costs and has the potential to damage the local construction industry at a time when it should be supported .
“The Minister needs to listen to genuine public concerns. The cost of the regulations will place a hefty and disproportionate burden on one-off housing. local authorities will need extra staff to handle the deluge of information and paperwork that will result from the new system .
“Surely the Government should establish a national building inspectorate or fund the Local authorities to enforce a system of targeted inspections, licensing or registration for builders. Information on builders could then be shared among the relevant authorities, with full prosecutions of any designers or contractors who are negligent in their duties.
“An open register of inspections and prosecutions and reports of inspections could be made public. Transparency in the system would be of huge benefit and build public confidence.”
He added that Minister Hogan’s rush to bring in new regulations such as septic tanks registration, property tax, water charges etc are being fast forwarded without taken into account the level of services available in the Rural West and North west compared to Dublin and the East of the Country .
“Setting up these initiatives is costing tax payers far too much because they are not costed and too much is spend on Consultants or setting up new quango to run them..
“Hogan will be going before the EU Parliament and EU Council of Ministers before the End of the year to tell them how he brought in all these changes but won’t say anything about all the unfair cost burden and ongoing hardships placed on the people as well.” Said Cllr Mc Gowan.