Given the various high-profile issues we have seen with certain construction projects, from mica in Donegal to the dangerously constructed schools that the Department of Education is dealing with, it is clear we need better control over construction projects. The Regulation of Providers of Building Works and Building Control (Amendment) Bill 2022 and Deputy Duffy's Defective Dwellings Bill 2021 are a good start, but what steps have been taken to meet the programme for Government commitment on the creation of an independent building standards regulator to oversee building control nationwide, to act as the custodian of building control management systems and to provide for the re-establishment of the building regulatory advisory body? At its inception, our current legislation contained a provision for an oversight body comprising architects, planners and engineers that would look at whether the changes being made to building regulations were correct. I would like to see the re-establishment of that.

I will revert to the Deputy after talking to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage about this. The progress of legislation is important and is a welcome first step, but we certainly need strong regulation to ensure the quality of building materials and of building are what they are meant to be, that people get value for money in respect of what has been constructed and that we do not experience a recurrence of what has happened in the context of mica, pyrite or other issues relating to substandard construction.