In reference to Greater regulation of our building standards would make it easier to fund social housing by Charles Barry on 26 June 2017 in Independent.

The house building of Ireland is continuing to rise but not without trouble. High demand means there is a chance builders are only looking at their output volume and not the quality. This led to numerous issues that have came up in late 90s and early 2000s – breaking health and safety regulations, pyrite, poor building quality, and contractor bankruptcy.

Regulations have since come up to avoid these issues with Building Control Amendment Regulations and Construction Industry Register Ireland. Even with these regulations in place, it can not completely solve the problem.

There is a similar situation in the UK with about the same building laws. A recent study found that 66 percent of the underlying issues of buildings are caused by poor workmanship.

To help alleviate this issue, the Dáil approved a motion to improve regulation for buildings. It improves the standard and quality as well as support to homeowners who have safety concerns about their house from poor workmanship. They also approved new legal rights for home buyers.

These new improvements are needed as Ireland’s construction rate is continuing to rise.

A new latent defect insurance (LDI) policy is now available to home buyers who want to feel more secure. They are different options but the most common ones usually are 1 percent of construction cost with a 10 year protection life.

The UK has this system in place to protect new home buyers. It is set up so it is a cost to the construction companies and not taxpayers.

It may help Ireland’s housing industry if the LDI policy is in greater use and also will in return help social housing, according to Charles Barry.