Mr. Ciar?n O'Connor:

It is a fire issue for escape purposes. The generation of smoke would be one element of it. People have been mentioning cross-laminated timber, CLT. Because it is laminate, it works in a different way structurally. Timber burns at a constant rate. If it is a hardwood, it burns at 0.5 mm per minute in a fire, so you can calculate exactly how long timber will last. It does not buckle like steel does under a certain temperature. The problem is that level of science has not yet really been applied to this type of issue. We have good examples from Norway. It is a country very like Ireland with a similar population which is very dispersed. It has gone to much higher heights. It has a tradition of using timber over long periods and is not afraid to do that. In Ireland, we need people to be less fearful, but we have to operate on a broad front. There is no point in just giving out about fire officers. They have a job to do, so the question is what they can work with us on, do and achieve. A cross-departmental and public view of how to move this forward is needed. I know examples from Holland that I have seen on holidays which have been built to 17 storeys. It is achievable but there are additional costs to go with it for the initial stage. As Mr. O'Toole said, the market here is very small. The question here is whether it is just imported or an industry is developed here in Ireland.