Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Lynn for her opening statement. I return to a very worthy point raised by Deputy O'Rourke about river basin management. Dr. Lynn has responsibility for a section within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Resourcing of our local authorities in the context of river basin management is major concern. This goes beyond the point Deputy O'Rourke made regarding the general capacity of our local authorities, including mine, Fingal County Council. In Swords, the Ward river valley, which feeds directly into the Broadmeadow Estuary SAC, is of serious concern to me. The State seems to be heavily reliant on volunteerism. While that might be great and some wonderful people do some wonderful work, I have concerns about the Department's and local authorities' ability to manage our river basin areas appropriately. It also has a significant knock-on effect on water quality. The ability of flora and fauna to thrive in such areas is stymied by waste litter and other issues. I thank Deputy O'Rourke for raising that matter.

My other points about the Department and the NPWS relate to comments Dr. Lynn made about targets. I refer to building regulations and the clearance of natural habitats, including hedgerows, mature and even semi-mature trees for the purposes of development. In many other countries, I am thinking specifically of Denmark, local authorities work with developers in order to retain such flora and fauna as part of developments and tend to integrate them into any development taking place. My experience in Swords and Dublin 15, which is the fastest-growing community in Europe, would be that they simply clear fields and build away. I also have slight concerns that our green spaces are grass only with perhaps a few trees here and there. The State needs to step up and put in flower beds, bushes and perennial flowers to enhance the biodiversity of a local community.

My other two questions are related to building regulation. Regarding sustainable development of our housing stock, we have an over-reliance on concrete. There are regulation issues relating to the use of timber, structural or otherwise. I would like to hear Dr. Lynn's comments on that.

My final question is on the eradication of fossil fuel heating sources in A-rated and B-rated homes. I recently visited a new housing estate in my constituency and was delighted to see that the houses were A2-rated, including things I would like to see becoming normalised such as electric vehicle charging ports and communal spaces. However, I was very concerned that they had gas boilers. This is something Senator Higgins has referred to on many occasions in the committee in the last couple of years. We are building in something with a lifespan of 20 or 30 years beyond our 2030 and 2050 targets. I am concerned that we are unnecessarily reliant on fossil fuels for high-energy-rated properties. We are building in the future use of fossil fuels for the purposes of home heating.