Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 April 2014
484. Deputy Dara Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 145 if 3 April 2014, if there is an interim scheme in place to allow candidates already registered under the non-domestic scheme to qualify as a domestic assessor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19253/14]
View answerCompletion of a domestic BER assessor training programme for dwellings is an essential requirement of registration for domestic BER assessors. The domestic BER assessor training programme enables participants to produce BER Certificates and Advisory Reports using the required calculation methodology, known as the
DwellingsEnergy Assessment Procedure (DEAP), for new and existing dwellings of varying complexity.
There are significant differences in the methodologies and software tools used by domestic and non-domestic BER assessors in the preparation of BER Certificates and Advisory Reports. Therefore it is not realistic to allow non-domestic BER assessors to register for dwellings without first completing the domestic BER assessor training programme.
As indicated in the reply to Question No. 145 of 3 April 2014, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, as the issuing authority under the European Union (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 20 12, is working, in consultation with Quality and Qualifications Ireland, on the review and validation of the award for the domestic BER assessor training course.
The national domestic BER examination remains in place for existing BER assessors and candidates who have completed a recognised BER assessor training course on or before December 2013. In the region of 2,700 previously trained and registered individuals could resume their registration in response to an increase in market demand.
However, there are a sufficient number of registered domestic BER assessors active in the marketplace to meet current demand. Approximately 650 domestic BER assessors have published in excess of 24,000 BER Certificates in the first quarter of this year .
