How do I know if my roofer is registered?
There is no single licence or mandatory register for roofers in Ireland today. Checking a roofer means running a handful of separate verifications: insurance, company records, references and, where relevant, the voluntary construction register. Here is what each check tells you, and the one big change coming that you should understand.
What "registered" can actually mean
Company registration (CRO). Any Irish limited company is on the Companies Registration Office register, searchable free at core.cro.ie. This confirms the company exists, is active, and shows its registered address and filing history. It says nothing about work quality. A sole trader is not incorporated as a company, but may have a registered business name on CRO records. Check the legal entity and trading name separately; a claimed "Ltd" that cannot be found needs clarification.
SEAI registration. Only relevant for grant-supported energy work such as attic insulation. SEAI maintains its own registered contractor list, and grant work must be done by contractors on it. See the SEAI grants explainer.
The Voluntary Construction Register (VCR). This is the current, voluntary register of construction firms, run under the Construction Industry Federation. Membership means a firm has submitted evidence of insurance, tax clearance and competence to a vetting process. It is a genuinely positive signal, but it is voluntary: plenty of good roofers are not on it, so absence proves nothing.
CIRI: the coming statutory register, and what is true today
The facts, checked 28 August 2026: the Regulation of Providers of Building Works Act 2022 created a statutory register, CIRI, with the Construction Industry Federation appointed as registration body. However, the sections of the Act that make registration mandatory (sections 26 to 59) had not been commenced at the time of checking, according to legal and industry reporting. Mandatory registration is expected to phase in during 2026, and the first categories covered are large residential developers (housing developments of ten or more units, apartments, duplex and triplex builders), not firms repairing or re-roofing a single home. Each category gets a twelve-month grace period after its commencement date.
What this means for you as a homeowner:
- No roofer is currently breaking the law by not holding CIRI registration. Anyone claiming "we are legally registered, others are not" should be asked exactly what register they mean, and checked against it.
- VCR membership is worth asking about as one signal among several, not as a deciding factor.
- This will change over the coming years. When a division covering domestic roofing work is formally commenced, we will update this page. For now, the practical checks below matter far more.
Our analysis: the gap in consumer protection is real, and the statutory register should eventually close it. Until it covers domestic roofers, the vetting burden sits with the homeowner, which is exactly why the next section exists.
The checks that work today
- Insurance certificate: in date, roofing work covered, insurer you can ring to confirm.
- Written itemised quote on headed paper, with a verifiable address.
- Recent local references: jobs you can view from the road and a customer you can call.
- CRO search if they trade as a limited company.
- VCR or trade-body membership as a bonus signal, verified on the body's own website.
The full version of this checklist, including how to read a quote and the red flags that end conversations, is in our guide to choosing a roofer in Ireland.
If you have already paid someone and it has gone wrong
Put your complaint in writing with a clear deadline, and keep every text, quote, photo and receipt. If that fails, the CCPC publishes guidance on your consumer rights, the Small Claims Court handles disputes up to €2,000 for a modest fee, and conduct that looks like deliberate deception rather than a workmanship dispute is a matter for the Gardaí.
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