THE supply of new homes is being threatened by an inability of engineers to get insurance cover to allow them to issue fire safety certificates.

Engineers Ireland told the Oireachtas Finance Committee many insurers that were offering its members professional indemnity cover for fire safety inspections and certification have pulled out of the market.

This meant that the supply of new homes could be held up.

Chairman of the fire safety division of Engineers Ireland Michael Lyons said many of the underwriters for fire-safety officers are British.

Claims like those for the Grenfell tower tragedy in London means they are reluctant to underwrite new business here. Many existing insurers here were no longer offering to cover the sector.

High awards for claims in Ireland were a major disincentive for insurers here, the committee was told.

The certification of apartment blocks and office developments was also under threat, Mr Lyons said. Engineers can’t inspect or issue fire-safety certs if they do not have professional indemnity cover.

“Many engineers are finding it increasingly difficult to find cover at reasonable cost, if not impossible.”

Mr Lyons said the difficulty in getting professional indemnity cover meant the certification of new offices, homes and apartments will be hugely impacted.

“If an engineer can’t renew cover during construction [of a housing estate] they won’t be able to issue a fire certificate.”

He said fire-safety engineers were seeing cover typically rise from a premium of €10,000 a year for €6.5m in cover, to €40,000 in premiums being quoted for €1m of cover.

He said such a quote does not cover allowing the engineer to issue fire safety certificates for external walls.

“Current projects could be under threat. And the ability of fire-safety certificate firms to get into new projects is most certainly at risk,” Mr Lyons told committee chairman John McGuinness.

He said the issue had arisen this year.

A 110-home estate in Wicklow was under threat after the fire-safety engineer was told by his insurer he would have no cover from mid-June.

Home buyers will end up footing a higher bill for the higher insurance costs of engineers, Mr Lyons said. This was builders would pass on the higher costs of engaging engineers to buyers.

Many engineering firms would be forced to close, especially smaller ones.

Mr McGuinness said the cover crisis for engineers could make the housing issues worse.

It is widely acknowledged that there is a chronic shortage of housing in the State.

John Power of Engineers Ireland said it was inevitable that the construction sector would suffer and jobs would be lost due to the insurance issue.