Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We visited the site last year. The frame was constructed and we were able to go up on the roof. We were up there with some of the management team for the project and a representative of the company. I looked all around and on the rows of terraced houses around it, there was a significant number of solar panels. I was surprised at the number of solar panels on terraced houses because they are not the easiest to retrofit. I asked where the solar panels being fitted on the hospital building were going to go and I was told none were being fitted. There are 40 acres of glass in that building, if it was spread out on the ground. I have never seen as much glass in one single building in my life. I do not understand how this has happened and maybe the Department would riddle me this. Why was the project allowed to go ahead without capturing any solar energy? That is what I was told; I do not have any other answer. I asked that question specifically. Is there anyone who can account for that? Can Mr. Quinlan tell me anything about that?

As there is so much glass in the building, one cannot put in cavity insulation too easily. Double glazing is all that can be done. Window cleaners are going to be busy. They had better have big cherry pickers or skyhooks. I cannot see how the building can be insulated properly. Glass is a conductor of heat but it is also a conductor of cold. If you turned off the heater in the car this morning and sat in it for ten minutes, you would quickly figure out how quickly the heat flies out through the glass. Glass is not a good insulator for keeping heat in. I understand people want a big bright building. I am sure the architectural firm and those people who want to show off the building are chuffed. However, there are issues with the practicality of the building. We are going to spend €2 billion and there does not appear to be anyone who can give me an answer. I asked the construction company and representatives of the board that day, and I am asking the witnesses today. How did we get to this point? Many people in the area around the project, including pensioners and people who are working and only bringing home €400 or €500 a week, have put solar panels on their houses with some grant aid. Yet here we have this massive, enormous building and not a sign of a solar panel anywhere on it. Maybe someone got it wrong here because when the reply to my question about the number of solar panels on the building was none, I thought I was hearing things. How did that happen?