While it may be hard to believe, up to early 2021 Ireland never had an Irish Code of Practice for heating and plumbing in domestic dwellings. It’s not been for the want of trying, and all credit to SEAI and NSAI – and more especially Paul Martin of SEAI and Fergal Finn of NSAI – who have persevered in the face of all manner of obstacles to get what’s now known as the SR Series 50 over the line.
In fairness, a big part of the problem is the nature of the Irish marketplace. In other European countries, industry representative organisations take existing European standards (EN) and draft their own industry-specific codes of practice. However, the sector in Ireland lacks a cohesive structure and the absence of such organisations mitigates against this happening.
That said, NSAI boldly undertook to draft codes of practice for the Irish plumbing industry and, despite being a very drawn out process, these have now been published in the form of the SR 50 Series of Irish Standard Recommendations. Obviously, they include the requirements of existing European standards that have been adopted as Irish standards.
See PDF of full story at SR 50 Series
