Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Time is limited. When somebody applies to a local authority for planning and states they want to knock down a building and build a new one, that is a problem. If we are not valuing the embodied carbon that is in those buildings, it will be easy for a local authority to allow a building to be knocked down and the construction of a new building to proceed. Are we considering that? We should begin to value the embodied carbon in existing buildings. There are all kinds of good reasons to do so, including heritage as well as climate. Is the Department considering any steps to introduce regulations to prevent unnecessary demolition?