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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 19 Mar 1997

Vol. 476 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Reinforced Steel Standards.

Is the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry aware that inferior United Kingdom reinforced steel, non-CARES approved, is being dumped on the Irish market and used extensively in farm buildings grant-aided by his Department and, if so, will he make a statement on the matter? It has been represented to me that reinforced steel which does not comply with the BS4449 standard is being imported and used extensively in the construction of grant-aided farm buildings. This uncertified steel is, in effect, being dumped on the Irish market at low prices which make it attractive for some unscrupulous builders.

I want to establish whether the BS4449 standard is required for all Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry installations and grant-aided buildings and, if so, what arrangements are in place to ensure product certification. Will the Minister agree that third party product certification in relation to BS4449 is operated only by the UK Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels and will he say if there are plans to involve CARES in certifying steel imported into this country? Will the Minister confirm whether the European Commission's standing committee on construction recently decided that a product certification system will be a requirement for CE marking when the forthcoming European standard for reinforced steel is formally adopted? If so, what certification system will be put in place here? Will he require that all steel be embossed with the registered mark of the steel mill which provides traceability to that steel mill?

In reply to a recent similar question the Minister for Defence said that as regards Defence Force installations the corps of engineers specifies, where appropriate in contract documents, that all steel to be used in construction should comply with British standard 4449. In addition, provision is made in contract documentation to have construction materials tested should the site engineer require it.

The Minister for Defence on that occasion did not state how the materials would be tested or by whom. I ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry for full details of testing and certification requirements in relation to the steel used in work approved by his Department.

My Department has no evidence that inferior reinforced steel is being used in grant-aided farm buildings. The Department's specifications for all grant-aided farm structures refer, in the absence of a relevant Irish standard, to British standards which are accepted internationally.

The UK Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels, CARES, is an organisation founded by the UK steel industry, not by the Government. It is a voluntary certification scheme only. The certificates cover both the manufacturing of reinforcing steel, and its processing, i.e., cutting and bending.

In Ireland there are three companies certified by CARES for cutting and bending only, not for manufacture. This represents a small percentage, well under 10 per cent, of the number of steel stockists.

It would be an unacceptable imposition on the entire industry for the Department to specify that only CARES certified steel be used in grant-aided structures. If the steel reinforcing industry should, as a whole, decide in the future to move towards the adoption of the CARES or other national certification system, the Department would co-operate with the industry in the adoption of that certification system.

The Dáil adjourned at 12.17 a.m. on Thursday, 20 February 1997 until 10.30 a.m.

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