Amanda Gallagher - a self builder's blog

I have started this blog as a focal point for my letters, articles & thoughts on the struggle that self builders in Ireland are facing at this present time.  I hope that if you are reading this as a potential self builder and you are concerned in any way for what the future may hold for people who had intended to self build – that you get some degree of comfort knowing you are not alone in your concern and with determination anything is possible!

Myself & my husband, Raymond were so looking forward to commencing the self build of our new family home in the Summer of 2014 – we had worked so hard in conjunction with our Architect to create our dream home – specific to our family’s needs.  We used to talk of how stressful the build would be on us – little did we know that we had a major obstacle to get over before the build would ever commence!

That obstacle is the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 9) – these restrictive laws ban self building in Ireland.  They state all construction must go through a main building contractor.

We are going to fight this obstacle that is in the way of our future, our plans, our hopes & our dreams – we will not stop until self building is restored to it’s rightful position in the Construction sector of Ireland.  It is a centuries old tradition and every one of us in this beautiful country should protect this tradition so that our children and grandchildren can know the joy and satisfaction it is to build one’s own home.

We follow two rules in this life: Rule number 1 – Don’t give up & Rule number 2 – Don’t forget rule number 1! – we will never give up the fight to restore self building in Ireland and the S.I. 9 are temporarily in our way – we have every faith that it won’t be too long until they are removed from the self builder’s lives forever!