Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Everybody is trying to help and so on but I see it from the perspective of my constituents who are living in social housing. I want retrofitting as quickly as possible for all such people. I see people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease living in houses that are freezing, with windows that do not even fit properly. I know a woman who is reliant on an old range. The house was built in the 1950s and I would not be surprised if that range also dates from the 1950s. I would like retrofitting to take place much quicker.

Another area I am interested in, which is probably not talked about that much other than at this committee, is that of hemp and its absorption of CO2 per hectare. In France, the Government requires that all public buildings be built from at least 50% timber or biomaterials, mainly hemp, which can be used to make concrete. Do the representatives have any thoughts on this? It seems it could be an area we could look it in getting to our emissions targets. I am interested to hear their thoughts on that.