Debate contribution: Defective Premises Bill: Final Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 2 July 2024.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

2 July 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Defective Premises Bill: Final Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4529058

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Notwithstanding the preference for full Committee scrutiny that my colleague Daniel McCrossan outlined and, indeed, acknowledging the wish for key stakeholders to have ongoing engagement with the Department on the implementation of the legislation and the broader building safety agenda, I welcome the fact that the Minister has moved with speed on the issue. I have an interest in the policy area. The case of Victoria Square, which is in my constituency, was brought to the attention of the House and, indeed, broader society in Northern Ireland. Of course, the legislation is designed to be much broader than that and will address the anomaly that arose in the Defective Premises Order for property owners in Northern Ireland. I welcome the fact that the Minister took responsibility when we came back. There was some initial — it was not quite a dispute — discussion about where departmental responsibility lay. One of the complaints that we often make about the devolved Departments is their silo mentality: in this instance, there was a relatively constructive and productive move towards one Department taking responsibility and bringing forward the legislation, which I welcome. I echo what others said: I hope that this is the beginning rather than the end of a conversation and a programme of reform around building safety that includes other Departments, most notably the Department of Finance, where part of the policy for building regulations sits, and the AERA Department. In a post-Grenfell and, indeed, a post-mica and post-pyrite age — we are not actually post mica and post pyrite, as Daniel McCrossan rightly said; we are still uncovering the depth of that — homeowners and, indeed, people who rent will expect us to be as front-footed and ambitious as we can be in what we do to address the issue of defective premises. Notwithstanding the fact that I want to see more post-legislative engagement, I welcome the fact that the legislation has been brought forward by the Minister. I missed the beginning of his remarks — business is moving quickly — but I hope that he is able to confirm that homeowners whose cases are under appeal will be able to benefit from the legislation. More broadly, I hope that this is a signal to people that the Assembly takes seriously the question of building safety. This has to be the beginning rather than the end of that process. As Daniel McCrossan said, there now has to be a process of detailed consultation with affected stakeholders on the broader building safety programme. With that, I conclude my remarks.

427 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:56 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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