Vol. 555 No. 1
157 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government his plans to introduce legislation to deal with the problem of house and car alarms which cause disturbance in neighbourhoods; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17512/02]
I understand that faulty alarms gave rise to 11% of the noise complaints made to Dublin Corporation in 2000, the third lowest of all categories of complaints listed. Nevertheless, I recognise that alarms are a source of neighbourhood noise. A number of arrangements are in place to reduce the incidence of unnecessary noise from alarms and to tackle persistent incidence of such noise.
The National Standards Authority of Ireland – NSAI – has published a voluntary standards specification – S.I. No. 199 of 1987 – and operates a certification scheme to that standard, which, inter alia, specifies a minimum 15 minutes and maximum 30 minutes duration for the sounding of external alarms in buildings with the alarms being required to cease automatically after the maximum duration. The connection of monitored business intruder alarm systems to Garda stations is contingent, inter alia, upon the use of alarm systems which are certified by NSAI and installed by certified installers.
A European standard for external intruder alarms, which will replace all current national standards, will incorporate considerably stricter controls regarding minimum and maximum duration for the sounding of alarms. The new limits are 90 seconds minimum and 15 minutes maximum. This new standard will be the only one applied by the NSAI from September 2003.
I understand that the promulgation of the Irish standard, the development of the European standard, the requirements of the Garda for monitored alarms, improved equipment, and the co-operation of installers certified by the National Standards Authority of Ireland have, together, been instrumental in ensuring that the incidence of false alarms and the failure of audible alarms to cut off have been very significantly reduced.
No standards have been set for the operation of car alarms.
