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

I know this is not Mr. Armstrong's area so I will not press him on the planning piece. That is all very good. More pertinent to his section is the question of embodied carbon in the existing built environment and how that is accounted for and valued. It seems we may be turning a blind eye to something that is very important there. We would not be alone; as far as I know, very few countries are doing this work. I would have liked to have seen more on this from Europe through the recast of the energy performance of buildings directive as opposed to measures on new construction. It is absolutely right that we ensure everything we build new is energy efficient and is associated with low levels of carbon over its life cycle but it seems there is a missing piece regarding the existing building stock. I am sure my colleagues would welcome the Department conducting research in that area. I certainly would.