I thank the Chair for permitting me to raise this matter this evening and I regret any inconvenience that may be caused to the Minister of State. Unfortunately, the issue is of such importance as to warrant being dealt with expeditiously.
The subject matter of the two questions relates to the general situation prevailing in respect of the electrical wiring and electrical fitting of houses, particularly new houses. I wish to draw the attention of the House to the fact that we may not be fully cognisant of the seriousness of the situation in respect of the standards in the area of electrical wiring and fitting nor may we realise fully the implications of this situation for life and limb. In 1973, the most recent year for which I have been able to obtain figures, almost 20,000 houses went on fire in this country. There was a significant number of deaths as a result of those fires. In 1978 there were 130 fatalities arising from fires in domestic dwellings. I would not imply that all of those fires were due to bad or faulty wiring but there is strong circumstantial evidence to indicate that this was the cause, especially since many of these fires occurred during the night.
It could be argued that from 90 to 100 people lost their lives in 1978 in fires that could be attributed to faulty wiring. None of us need be surprised at that having regard to the extraordinary situation that exists in the area of wiring and installation. The position is that anybody, regardless of whether he has not even the slightest knowledge of electrics, is entitled to contract to undertake wiring in a private house, and once that wiring has been carried out it is not necessary to have an independent assessment of the standards used before the current is switched on. In other words, the wiring contractor need not have any qualifications in this area and there is no overseeing of the standards used.
There is the system of the issuing of what are known as completion certificates. These are obtainable from a number of sources, including the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland. Unfortunately, the situation is that anybody can purchase these certificates, which are available also at a number of other outlets. Yesterday I became the owner of one of these certificates, which on my signature would imply that a job I delineated was carried out adequately. This would be accepted as evidence by the ESB that the work was carried out in accordance with their required standards. Of course, I would not be so irresponsible as to utilise that certificate in any such way and it will be scrapped after this debate. These certificates are available at about 2½p each. They are signed by the person who executes the work. There might be some safeguard if they had to be signed by somebody else, but to have them signed by the contractor is similar to asking a person to adjudicate on his own work.
I have no reason to doubt that the majority of contractors are genuine people, but because of the basic seriousness of electrical wiring, and its implications not only in terms of workmanship but in terms of life and limb, there should not be any loophole that would permit a careless contractor's work not to be detected. The ESB accept the certificates at face value. On 15 February the Minister for the Environment undertook in the House to have the matter considered, but even he on that occasion was under a false impression. In reply to a question from me he said that the ESB inspect electrical installations. The context of the question implied that he was talking about all electrical installations. He went on to say that the installations are inspected by the ESB before the current is connected. After some further exchanges the matter rested with the Minister undertaking to consider the situation, but those who are interested in this matter have found it very difficult to get evidence of cases in which inspections were carried out.
One of the reasons for these inspections not being carried out may be a reluctance on the part of the ESB to undertake the task because of inadequate staff for that purpose, and there is also a reluctance on the part of the householder in this respect because an inspection costs £40. Therefore, there is no clamour to have inspections undertaken with the result that there is not any independent overseeing of the standards used. Concern has been expressed widely by a number of bodies about this whole situation. In recent correspondence arising out of the exchange in the Dáil on 15 February the Association of Electrical Contractors (Ireland), no doubt very conscious of the fact that their members' livelihoods are involved as well as their natural concern for public safety, adverted to the question in their letter of 23 February which was circulated to the press and from which I quote a paragraph which indicates their agreement with the case I am making:
Completion Certificates are only supplied by the two Contractor Associations to their members but unfortunately as the law stands at present these Completion Certificates may be purchased by anyone from other sources all over the country and indeed electrical installations work may be executed by anyone qualified or unqualified....
...It will be appreciated that where thousands of installations are carried out every year in this country, the unfortunate ESB supervisors cannot possibly examine all the installations in detail and assume responsibility for the quality of the work done.
In other words, the situation is that there is open season regarding the electrical wiring of houses. This is a very serious matter. I would go further and say that not very far from here there are breaches of even the basic standards set down by the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland and the ESB. The ESB in their document Requirements for Domestic Metering, effective from January 1974, set out a number of standards. One of these reads:
Where the ESB apparatus is located indoors one cabinet may be used to house both ESB and consumer's equipment, provided all requirements for ESB metering cabinets are satisfied and a space measuring 585 × 380 mm. is reserved for ESB apparatus.
I understand that it is not appropriate to refer by name to people who are outside the House, but I would draw the attention of the Minister to housing estates in the Kilnamanagh area of Dublin. These are houses built by private contractors. If the Minister wishes I can let her have examples of where standards in respect of electrical wirings and fittings, as well as other standards such as those laid down by the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland, are being broken in this estate. For example, regarding the necessity for a fuse board for domestic installations intended for mounting in dry locations—that would be indoor—these fuse boards are being mounted in outdoor meter chambers. This is contrary to the rules laid down by the bodies concerned and contrary also to the requirements specified by the ESB.
That may not seem a major point but it should go out from the House that those who are in the process of changing electrical fuses in a chamber outside the House intended for use inside run the risk in wet weather of electrocution. I do not wish to be alarmist about this, but this is highly dangerous. It is not just dangerous in the Kilnamanagh estate being developed by a firm of well-known builders; there are examples to be found in Sligo and other areas where there is a cavalier approach to the placement of fuse boxes and the material used in them.
Immediate measures are necessary to combat this situation. There is photographic and other evidence available for those who may doubt my word in this case. I have a piece of fuse wiring in my possession and I can show with it the common practice adopted in wiring houses. I am told that the proper practice when wiring a house is to twist the wires around each other so that wind or any other movement will not cause them to touch but, because it saves time—and possibly material—the common practice almost nationally is to keep the wires parallel to each other. If the wires are in an attic a draught may cause them to touch. If that happens a very dangerous situation develops. Those short cuts are not tolerable because lives are at stake. It is imperative that a rigid set of standards are introduced and are seen to be adhered to in such cases.
I am told that a symptom of this situation is when lights flicker in a house for no apparent reason. If that happens it could be an indication of danger. It is our duty to bring such matters to the attention of our people. One of the specific regulations being broken in the Kilnamanagh estate is paragraph 5.9.2 in the book entitled National Rules for Electrical Installations. An attempt was made to defend that in a recent newspaper article. This is not the first occasion this matter has been aired. The Electrical Safety Bureau of Ireland, a voluntary group of expert people who have a lot of experience in the electrical field, also aired it. Due credit should be paid to them for pursuing this case, often at great personal inconvencience, financial loss, embarrassment and, in some cases, apparent discrimination.
In recent weeks the media have endeavoured to show the anomalies that exist here and the Sunday World highlighted this problem. That is all to the good because it meant that the Minister of State, and the Minister for the Environment, were in a position to give a detailed reply to my question. The Minister of State admitted that in view of the present unsatisfactory situation she intended to start consultations immediately with the relevant interests concerned with a view to establishing the best possible procedures to protect the public interest in this area of activity. I should also like to thank the Minister for the Environment for his commitment last month to get something done about this problem. It has taken many years to get the admission that the situation was unsatisfactory.
I would like the Minister of State to tell the House the steps, apart from the consultations, she intends taking and how long it will take these steps to become effective. If we can manage to save one person as a result of our efforts, we will be achieving a lot. The cavalier approach in this area is exemplified by the issuing of completion certificates which are available for anybody. The booklets which contain the basic rules are not madly purchased by some electrical contractors and it is possible that that is due to the price being in excess of £8. Some form of system should be adopted to ensure that the requirements are not alone in the possession of electrical contractors but are known by them. The Government, after all, rightly insist that nobody can drive on our roads without a driving licence and it is not possible to procure such a licence without having knowledge of the rules of the road. That is the way it should be in the electrical business.
The time has come to terminate the extraordinary practice whereby anybody can buy a completion certificate over the counter. We must establish a register of contractors for the electrical trade to help to bring about at least minimum standards in this regard. I should like to know the Minister's proposal in this connection. Consultations and deliberations have been going on for a long time about this matter. I have in my possession a letter from the Electro-Technical Council of Ireland, dated 12 August 1974, which indicates that that body consider the matter serious and are concerned about the registration of contractors. That letter was written five years ago and we do not know what loss might have been saved had action been taken earlier on the lines suggested by that body.
I am sure the Minister appreciates that this is not a party political issue. It is a matter of public concern. The registration of contractors is important; as is the introduction of an independent assessment system. I am told that the standards which exist on paper at present are unsatisfactory because alterations have been introduced which are not helpful. The ETCI, and the supervisory body the Minister may decide on, should not only represent, as the ETCI does at present, what might be called the vested interests involved, it should also represent the consumer, the State and trade unions. The existing group responsible for overseeing these standards represents only people who have a direct interest in the trade; it does not represent the public interest. They have admitted that the standards are not satisfactory and, in fairness to them, they could not be expected to be biased in favour of the consumer. I know that that is where the Minister's heart lies. There are many issues in this area which are serious and I hope the Minister will tell the House what is to be done and how long it will take. There is great need for this matter to be treated as urgent.
