Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 May 2017
132. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on whether the building energy regulation cert database provides an accurate data source to count the completion of new build dwellings on an annual basis, in view of the fact that since 2007 all new builds require a BER. [22520/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe recording and reporting of statistics on housing activity is a complex matter that involves tracking a range of different indicators – including planning permissions, commencement notices, ESB connections and several others - from various sources, each of which measure different aspects of housing market activity. Each dataset presents part of the overall housing activity picture but none of the datasets were specifically designed to count new house construction.
Since the 1970’s, the Department has published ESB data on residential properties connected to the ESB grid, as a proxy for house completions, as it represents the best available indicator, with full coverage, that a residential unit is becoming available for occupation. This dataset includes recently completed once-off homes, multi-unit scheme developments and apartments as well as some re-connections to the grid, where properties that have been unoccupied for over two years are being brought back into use.
It is important to note that the ESB figures are by no means the only dataset used to measure housing construction activity. For example, detailed information on residential construction activity is available from local authorities and the four Dublin local authorities reported 144 active construction sites, encompassing the construction of some 5,200 new dwellings, at the end of 2016. This is a very important source of information in terms of informing policies aimed at increasing supply in the key Dublin housing market.
In terms of building energy regulations, I understand that, in line with the European Union (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 2012 (S.I. No. 243 of 2012), a BER Certificate must generally be obtained before a new dwelling may be occupied or offered for sale or letting. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), which comes within the remit of my colleague the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, is the statutory agency responsible for the day-to-day administration of the BER Scheme, while local building control authorities are responsible for enforcement of the obligation to obtain BER certificates, in line with the 2012 Regulations. My Department is examining the potential of BER records to offer housing activity data and will continue to work with all available datasets in order to gain as complete a picture as possible.
The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), with the support of my Department, introduced the on-line Building Control Management System (BCMS) with effect from 1 March 2014 to facilitate building control authorities, building owners, builders and construction professionals in discharging their responsibilities under the Building Control Act 1990, as amended. The Department is actively engaging with the LGMA with a view to further developing the potential of the BCMS as an additional source of data in relation to house building activity.
The Central Statistics Office established an independent group in January 2017, chaired by an Assistant Director General, to examine housing statistics and my Department participates on that Group. This Group is considering the best analytical approaches to reconciling and combining datasets in this area and will have oversight of, and a direct involvement in, the examination of any output arising from the variety of analyses currently underway.
In addition, my Department has also established a new Housing Data Analytics Group, with membership from the CSO, Central Bank, local authorities and others to examine this complex area and to monitor and review the various sources of data collected nationally to provide a comprehensive and coherent suite of statistics relating to housing matters.
