My question is about the building control (construction industry register Ireland) Bill 2017, CIRI, which the Minister of State, Deputy English, has described as critical for the development of a culture of confidence and compliance in the construction industry. A story in The Irish Times by Niamh Towey today reports on how the developer of an apartment block, Cathedral Court in Dublin 8, has now taken control of the management company and is trying to charge owners of properties with latent defects €5,000 a head, despite the fact that it was the developer that sold them the apartments. Will the Minister use this Bill to bring forward stronger protections for apartment owners with latent defects to remove conflicts of interest such as the one that is clearly present in this case in Dublin 8? Will he also introduce a latent defects redress scheme so that owners of apartments are not left carrying the can for failures of builders, developers and weak Government regulation?

We are finalising elements of the CIRI Bill currently between myself and the Office of the Attorney General. We are looking at what elements we can include based on the submission we received from the joint Oireachtas committee following the prelegislative consultation.

I raised this matter with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, two weeks ago. This Friday, 5 July, is the closing date for submissions to the Department of the Economy in Northern Ireland in regard to an application for a fracking licence by a company called Tamboran. As Minister with responsibility for the environment, Deputy Bruton must recognise that this is an environmental issue which will have catastrophic implications for the Border counties and indeed for the whole country if it goes ahead. We have banned fracking in this jurisdiction. I appeal to the Minister personally to make a submission in his capacity as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, on behalf of the people on this side of the Border, suggesting that this is totally inappropriate and wrong and that it would have a detrimental impact on the environment. This needs to be done as quickly as possible.

I will ask the EPA to have a look at whether it is something on which Ireland would make a submission.