Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was up in my room listening to the debate and I had not realised this report was being debated. I have come down to make the case for something I have a lot of experience in. Many years ago I was involved in an eco-building cross-Border project in Leitrim, west Cavan and Fermanagh. We went around to see what materials we would use and how we would do it. We went to the Czech Republic and we looked at a product called straw board, which uses compressed straw to make boards with which they build houses. That is an embodied carbon. The carbon is taken in as the product grows and it is used in the walls and it is there forever.

We went away from that and went with something a little bit more Irish.

For almost all the houses we used hemp and lime, or hempcrete. I wish to use this opportunity to make the case for the development of a proper hemp industry in Ireland. It has great potential not just for our farmers but for our built environment as well. Most of the houses we built were small cottages, too small for modern living, so extensions were needed. The extensions were done using a timber-frame construction to take the weight, then we simply used plywood and infilled with hemp and lime. In some cases, a little bit of clay was mixed in, depending on what was in the environment. Hundreds of years ago, people built with what was around them and what was around them worked and was there forever. We still see the strong buildings that have stood for hundreds of years since then.

The point I wish to make is that when we did that, the experience was that the walls, which were probably around 18 in. to 2 ft thick - very thick walls were built - were extremely insulated. There was no need for any other kind of insulation. The exterior of the wall was a lime plaster. It looked like a concrete house from the outside. It looks the same and acts the same, but it is breathable. The moisture can move in and out through the walls while at the same time these buildings are extremely warm and dry. These are healthy houses to live in. The beauty of this type of construction is that people are growing the hemp on the land and absorbing the carbon. More carbon is absorbed in a crop of hemp in one year than in ten years in a forest. It is, therefore, a large absorber of carbon. This is what we need to be using if we are going to be building our houses this way in future.

If we are going to do this, then we will need policy to allow us to undertake it. We will not be able to develop a hemp industry in Ireland unless the Government takes the lead role. This is the point I came here to make. I saw a programme on the television in the last week or two. I think it was one of those shows on ten things in science and was about hemp. I saw Professor Tom Woolley on that programme. He is a great advocate for this industry, but there are many others around the country as well. The expertise in this regard exists. The problem, though, is that farmers will not grow hemp unless there is a market for it. There will not be a market for it unless somebody is going to set up the processing plants required. Nobody is going to take these risks. When we developed industries in Ireland in the past, whether that was Bord na Móna, our forestry service or whatever else, the State set them up, perfected them and got them going right. It worked, and when it was seen to work and the concept was proven, it became commercialised. We must do the same with this industry.

There is an opportunity now. In the past, we have been critical of public private partnerships, PPPs, but I am referring to a kind of community public private partnership where the Government and the community, including the farmers who would grow the product, could work together to develop the industry. The opportunity to do this will only come about if the Government puts a fund together to do this and invests in it. Teagasc has much of the expertise. It exists already. The land must be reasonably good. There is certainly better land in County Kildare than there is in County Leitrim to grow hemp. At the same time, though, it is a good break crop, particularly for farmers who grow cereals. The point is that for farmers to do this, they will need a market. The market will only exist if the structure is put in place.

This can only happen if it is promoted. We must have engineers and architects specifying that this is what they want to see done. We must have people in our planning offices saying these are the types of houses we need to see built in our regions. We do not have that now. A man in County Leitrim called Padraig Corby has done a great deal of work on hemp and has grown several crops. He has a site ready to build a house on but he will not get planning permission to build a hemp house because it does not meet with the building regulations. There are building issues around agrément certification and all those things. If the will was there, all this stuff could be sorted out in 12 months. If we have a climate emergency, then this is what we should be doing. We should be sorting this out in 12 months or less, if we really believe we have a climate emergency. If we do not really believe we have a climate emergency, if we think it would be nice to look at this and if we want to see how it goes along, then it will drag along and officials will scratch their heads and walk around in circles for years before it is done. This is the problem.

I do not doubt anyone on the committee, the Minister of State present or the Government's commitment to doing things. Unfortunately, however, we seem to continuously run into the obstacle of officialdom that prevents things from happening. Although some countries have used hempcrete for high-rise buildings, it is certainly suitable for houses in our housing estates, for single houses and for schools. For buildings like this, hempcrete is an answer that exists now. We do not need to develop anything new. It exists, and has done so for thousands of years, and it works. It builds an excellent, well insulated and safe house. There is no problem with vermin or with fire protection. It is impossible to set this stuff on fire once it sets. It will not go on fire. All these issues have been dealt with, yet we have not got the certification for it. We must get the will to make this happen.

That was why I said I would come in for a couple of minutes. I was not aware of this debate. I was just waiting for the "Late Debate" on radio later. I am glad to have the opportunity to speak, but I appeal to the Government to put the infrastructure and funding in place to develop this industry, for the agriculture sector and especially for our built environment. There is a way of having a home-grown solution for the walls in our houses, which will be well insulated, and also for insulation, roofs, etc. When we undertook the project I referred to, we used roofing tiles that had to come from America. I am sure they could be manufactured here as well. Those were recycled car waste. As we know, a lot of a car is made up of plastic and rubber. There is the dashboard and the bumpers. This is what the slates were made from. You would think they were blue Bangor slates on the roof to look at them. It is a light roof, very durable and there forever. We need to be going in this direction to ensure we have embodied carbon in our built environment.

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