The Architects' Alliance of Ireland (AAoI), founded in 2009, is a pressure group lobbying against Part 3 of the Building Control Act 2007, which for the first time restricted the use of the title "architect" in Ireland. The Alliance, whose founders include Leonard Barrett and Liam Hazel, argues that the mandatory assessments for self-taught architects are discriminative and prohibitively expensive—costing around €13,500 in 2009 versus €3,500 in the Netherlands—and are designed by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) to fail most applicants. It advocates for a "grandfather clause" to automatically register practitioners established before the Act, a privilege it claims RIAI members already enjoy. The group has given evidence to Oireachtas committees in 2010 and 2012, and gained support from TD John O'Donoghue, who tabled an amendment bill in 2010 that was never debated due to a government change. While the RIAI insists its system protects consumers and recognises its members' rigorous exams, the AAoI contends the RIAI holds a monopoly favouring its own interests, and has escalated complaints to the Competition Authority and the European Commission.