FORMER CEANN comhairle John O’Donoghue has written to the Government seeking support for legislation he has introduced to protect architects who do not have certification from the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI).
The Building Control (Amendment) Bill, 2010, provides a “grandfather clause” for self-trained or unlicensed architects to retain their official status. An estimated one-third of practising architects in the State are unlicensed.
Mr O’Donoghue, Fianna Fáil TD for Kerry South, introduced the Bill in the Dáil last week on the last day of the plenary session before the summer recess.
The Oireachtas published the Bill yesterday and while Government Chief Whip John Curran said in the Dáil last week that the Government did not oppose the legislation, Mr O’Donoghue has written to him seeking Government backing to allow time to debate the two-page Bill.
He said the Bill would “prevent hundreds of working architects from losing out on their official status because they pursued a different route to qualification”.
The Bill provides that all architects aged 35 or older who show evidence of having worked as an architect for seven years or more, would be officially recognised as architects by the State.
