Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for coming in, all of whom have been hugely informative. I have a couple of, hopefully, short questions and they can come back to me at the end with the answers.

On the zero-carbon initiative, obviously we were aspiring to it at every level in construction. This question is probably for Ms Phelan. On the deep retrofit that is being done across the local authority housing stock at the moment, is she satisfied that it is up to sufficient standard and compliant to bring us to zero carbon?

On Enterprise Ireland, I have seen first-hand the excellent work it is doing on modular building. We are very fortunate to have Framespace Solutions in Longford town. In terms of the number of players we have across the country at the minute, has the agency identified what our capacity is for modular home building at the minute? How many units can be produced? How quickly can those companies scale up? Where can we get to in respect of future build?

The Green Building Council raised a point, but it is probably something that Ms Phelan might be able to answer better. The Chair referenced this as well. On the pre-demolition audits, which are not a statutory requirement of the planning process, is there a tabulated form where we can see how many local authorities have ever requested those and how many are being requested? Is the number increasing or is it something that is not being used, except in exceptional circumstances?

Some of my colleagues on the committee who are also on the agriculture committee will have been delighted to hear Mr. O’Connor speak so passionately and eloquently about forestry. If we are to go for zero carbon, we need an awful lot more timber. It is very frustrating. While we have been in this meeting, the latest forestry report, which we get on a weekly basis, came through to us. We see that the number of afforestation licences issued in the month of April was down almost 50% on the previous year.

I suppose Mr. O’Connor is engaging at different levels. However, I ask about his engagement with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and specifically in regard to forestry, because it is an issue that has dominated the agriculture committee in terms of our dismay with the issuing of licences. It was great to hear Mr. O’Connor speaking about Glennon Brothers. I live not too far way and I pass by its excellent facility in Longford. I know it and so many other players in forestry and timber production are aghast at the delays in this sector at the moment. In a nub, how engaged is Mr. O’Connor with the Department, specifically on licensing? He has given us great feedback on what needs to change there. Has that been fed through to the Department? Is it a two-way process? Does he feel it is taking heed of the issues that it has with licensing? Does he see a situation where that will change?