Building Regulations
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

I welcome our dear friend, former Deputy Humphreys. I think he was a Member of this House as well. He is coming back to check up on us today. It is good to see him here with his colleagues. It is good to have him in the House.
I thank the Senator for raising this important matter. The National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, is Ireland’s national standards body operating under the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act 1996. The NSAI is under the remit of the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. The NSAI develops standards for products and services upon request of industry, regulators or policymakers. Indigenous standards may be promulgated, produced or developed where no existing international or European standards have been adopted or proposed.
The National Standards Authority of Ireland has confirmed to the Department that there is an Irish standard recommendation, reference No. SR CEN/TS 15209:2021, which relates to tactile paving surface indicators produced from concrete, clay and stone. This standard specifies the method of measurement and the acceptance criteria for the dimensions for surface profile features and patterns for the surface of pedestrian paving units, used to convey information for visually impaired people. It applies to paving units made of concrete, clay and stone where the tactile profiles are monolithic with the unit. The surface profiles are intended to be applied to units manufactured to IS EN 1338:2003 and IS EN 1339:2003. There are other standards from 2012 and 2013, which I will provide to the Senator, which can be square or rectangular as specified by the designer. It does not specify dimensions of a single tactile paving layout or profile but proposes ranges within which these dimensions should fall, which I think, if I heard the Senator correctly, would indicate that, notwithstanding the fact that a standard is in place, there is a variance in it and that is what is causing the most difficulty for the constituent. It proposes methods of measurement of profiles, light reflectance and colour but does not specify requirements for these characteristics. These properties will be decided by the designer, taking into account the regulations, codes of practice and guidance in the place of use of the units. It does not specify material characteristics.
This Irish standard recommendation - SR CEN/TS 15209:2021 - is the national adoption of the European technical specification developed and published by CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation. All European standards are adopted as national standards. CEN is a European standardisation organisation designated under EU regulation 1025/2012 that brings together the national standards bodies of 34 European countries, of which the NSAI is the Irish national standards body.
It should be noted that the paving slabs are required to be CE marked in accordance with the construction products regulation citations of 2003, 2012 and 2013, depending on the base material of paving element. It is the understanding of the Department that guidance in the use of tactile paving surface indicators is provided in the design manual for urban roads and streets, DMURS. This DMURS document dates from 2013 and was prepared collaboratively by the Department of Transport and the then Department of Environment, Community and Local Government.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-10