Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will concentrate on how we arrive at the building standards we have and implement, and how we implement and enforce them. We are talking about quite a broad spectrum of typologies. Things like hepa filtration and single-room occupancy have been issues in hospital settings for at least a decade. Businesses and schools are a different consideration than homes. I know there has been some research in Ireland on the very poor ventilation quality in our homes. While this may not necessarily speak to Covid transmission, it certainly speaks to the level of asthma we have.

Regarding how we arrive at our building standards, the original Building Control Act provided for a Building Regulations Advisory Board where experts would have joined together to advise the Department about what is appropriate. That seems to have been disbanded. Do the witnesses think a mechanism like that would have been useful in the past year?