Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 December 2025
451. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the position regarding the working group to review qualifications for engineering roles in the local Government sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71185/25]
View answer452. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the working group to review qualifications for engineering roles in the local Government sector will include clerks of works/building inspectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71186/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 451 and 452 together.
Section 160 of the Local Government Act 2001 provides the Minister with the power to declare qualifications of such classes and descriptions as he or she thinks fit for a specified employment under a local authority or for such of the employments as belong to a specified class, description or grade. A Working Group was established by my Department in April 2024 to undertake a review of the existing suite of engineering qualifications in the local government sector and to propose changes to those qualifications where necessary.
Following the conclusion of the work undertaken by the Working Group which recommended a number of changes and a consultation process with the relevant public sector unions about the proposed changes, revised qualifications for engineering posts were declared on 25 July 2025 and are available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/qualifications-for-local-authority-employees/
The revised qualifications will improve the ability of the sector to attract and retain high quality candidates with appropriate engineering qualifications, while also at the same time providing flexibility and consistency across the sector. Further information on the review that was undertaken by the Working Group is available at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/policies/local-government/#review-of-engineering-qualifications-in-the-local-government-sector
The Working Group was established to review the suite of engineering qualifications in the local government sector and therefore did not include a review of the current qualifications for Clerk of Works / Building Inspector which were most recently declared on 29 April 2021. My Department keeps existing qualifications under review and will, where necessary, and in consultation with the local government sector and unions, propose changes to existing qualifications and / or identify new qualifications.
