Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegates from the Department. This is an important opportunity for the committee to try to deal with some of these issues.

On electric vehicles, did Mr. McCarthy state that from 2020 all new developments containing more than ten dwellings must have charging points in place? Will that come into force on 1 January 2020 or 31 December 2020? On a related matter, are there plans or is there work under way to retrofit charging points into hospitals, local council offices, Government buildings and departmental offices such as those of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine?

It is probably best if I ask all my questions now. On another planning issue regarding solar and wind energy, Mr. McCarthy stated:

It is expected that a public consultation on the revised draft guidelines, together with the comprehensive environmental report under the SEA process, will be commenced in the coming weeks, with the aim of issuing the finalised guidelines, following detailed analysis and consideration of the submissions and views received during the consultation phase, in early 2019.

This has been going on for years. The witness was in that Department with Mr. Phil Hogan when he was the Minister. I was my party's spokesperson on that brief. Former Deputy Pat Rabbitte and a few other Ministers have come and gone since then. Can nothing be done? What is happening here - and I have told the Minister this - is that the door will be closed after the horse has bolted. The wind farms that should not be built have already been built. We need wind farms but there are some bad examples, particularly in the midlands. These wind farms have been built without proper guidelines, not to mind regulations, being in place. It has already happened. I met representatives of the ESB last Friday to discuss a number of matters, including this one. They said, in respect of the development and roll-out of wind farms, that the grid is almost up to capacity in some areas. There are parts of the country where there will be no more wind farms. The show is over, and without having the necessary guidelines in place. I could see this happening and I am on the record for saying it month after month to Minister after Minister. I am taking this opportunity to put the question to the officials. For God's sake, will somebody try to get those in place?

The offshore element of wind energy generation has been much more costly up to now, but there is new technology. Some countries are using floating wind farms. In England, Scotland and Wales, 8.5% of total generation comes from offshore wind. In terms of our research, what is the current position on moving into that space? Obviously, we have an advantage because Ireland is an island nation. Some people in the engineering profession claim that we could export that offshore wind energy to France, for example, given that we will soon have the Celtic interconnector.

I will move to the subject of housing. The witness referred to the 59-week process and the four stages. Within those four stages, there are 19 stages. They are on the list circulated by the Department to local authorities. I do not have a copy of it with me. It is in my briefcase in my office. There are a number of steps. I will take the example of the scheme in Portarlington, the 22 houses at Ballymorris. It took three and a half to four years from conception to getting them built. Local councillors and officials are frustrated with this and one can imagine what it is like for the people on the housing waiting list.

I will put something that puzzles me to our guests. When I drive to Deputy Pringle's county, I see houses along the way that are very similar in design to the houses in my county. They were all built in the period from the 1930s to the 1960s. I have talked to officials and engineers in the local authorities about one of the things that is slowing down the process - it would turn one's hair grey quicker than mine is already turning - which is the fact that every house has to be designed from scratch. I accept that this is not the 1930s. People had no technology then whereas we have now. Some of the officials will be familiar with Conniberry Way in Portlaoise. The houses there fit into the category of being nearly zero-energy structures. I have been in them and they are top of the range. One could heat them with a candle even in freezing weather owing to the standard to which they were built. I give full credit to everybody involved in that project. Why can we not use that design? I am told by the engineers in the county councils that what is causing one of the problems is the design for energy. Can we not take that template and use it in Donegal, Offaly, Waterford, Dublin, Mayo and elsewhere? We could have three or four basic designs.

Those who want social and affordable housing will be okay if there are 700 or 800 people in another county living in similar looking houses. It will not keep them awake at night. It certainly will not keep me awake at night and it should not keep anybody here awake at night if we are getting people housed instead of tripping over them sleeping on the street outside this building. Unfortunately, that is happening in provincial towns as well. Why can we not have four generic designs for one, two, three and four-bedroom houses and get on with it instead of having to go back to scratch? The architects are rubbing their hands about this because they have skin in this game. One cannot blame them. It is their job to design. That is their profession and I am not knocking them for that. My point is that there is no need to start from scratch each time.

I remember when the requirement for houses to be architecturally designed was introduced. If the officials are ever in County Laois I will show them the houses that the council designed. They were built from the 1970s up to the 1990s. My recollection, and I was a county councillor at the time, is that in the period from 2001 to 2003, there was a change to them having to be architecturally designed. I can show the officials both types of houses. The ones that are architecturally designed had huge maintenance problems from the start. The ones that were designed by the council, and it was not by an engineer but by the technician in Laois County Council working at a desk, have very few maintenance problems or recurring problems. They were designed very practically. I hope the witnesses will address that question.