Councillor demands answers as building standards watchdog still not operational - Donegal Daily

A motion calling on the Minister for Housing to confirm when the interim Building Standards Agency and its testing of concrete products will be operational was...

A motion calling on the Minister for Housing to confirm when the interim Building Standards Agency and its testing of concrete products will be operational was passed unanimously at Donegal County Council today, Monday.

The motion by 100% Redress Party Councillor Joy Beard, which is to be forwarded to the minister and all local authories, also noted that the EU Commission opened an infringement case against Ireland for failure to carry out market surveillance on construction products.

Additionally, the motion outlined how the council notes that the interim Building Standards Agency was to be established between July and December 2026.

It called on the Minister to confirm when this will be operational, along with its staffing budget and inspection powers and its programme for independent, proactive testing of construction products, including aggregates and concrete at source.

The Council also called for the publication of Ireland’s commitments to the Commission and a funded timetable for the establishment of the independent Building Standards Regulatory Authority.

Cllr Beard told today's Donegal County Council meeting in Lifford that, because the required market surveillance on construction products was not being 'carried out properly, the system was far too relaxed'.

"They were looking at buildings after they failed, rather than preventing the unsafe materials from being used in the first place."

Cllr Beard said there must be a 'clear update' on when they interim Building Standards Agency will be operational.

"For too long, we have paid the price for failures of oversight and we do need proactive surveillance, transparency and enforcement, so no other generation has to go through what other affected homeowners are currently enduring."

Anne Marie Conlon, Director of Housing, MD Services and Capital Projects, said the council was happy to convey the motion and to share it with all other local authorities.

Cllr Beard thanked the council for its support and said it was 'very important, considering what we're going through currently here and what will be going on in the future'.

"It is to ensure defective products are never put on to the market again," Cllr Beard said.

"To date, very little has changed. It is still reactive than pro-active and given the scale of the crisis, that is not good enough.

"I can't believe we're sitting here in 2026 and it has not changed. We need to make sure the timeline of December will be the case.

"We can't afford to have any other defective products put in the open market."

Commenting after the meeting, Cllr Beard outlined the defective concrete crisis has been known for 'years'.

"Homeowners have had to watch their homes deteriorate, live with uncertainty and, in many cases, face the upheaval of leaving, demolishing and rebuilding their homes.

"We cannot allow the same failures in oversight to happen again.

"The European Commission opened an infringement case against Ireland over its failure to carry out required market surveillance of construction products.

"The Government said an interim Building Standards Agency would be established between July and December 2026.

"Yet, as of April, the Minister confirmed it had not been established.

"The order was still being finalised, and staffing and resources were still being examined."

Cllr Beard continued: "It is now September. When will this agency actually be up and running?

"How many staff will it have? What will its budget and inspection powers be? And what independent testing will it carry out?

"I want to be particularly clear about aggregates: they must be independently sampled and tested at source, before they are used to make concrete products.

"There must also be proactive testing of concrete products and effective action when materials fail.

"Checking a property only after cracks appear is far too late.

"Donegal County Council has said it will arrange to write to the Minister and share the motion with all local authorities.

"I will continue to press for a properly resourced system of independent, proactive market surveillance that stops defective products before they reach people’s homes and other buildings."