Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Even if a standard duplex is being built, my understanding is even that could not be done if there are separate units of accommodation that are fully timber. The ground floor would have to be a standard concrete floor and there would then be two storeys of timber on top. That is the case, even for something like that. Mr. O'Connor mentioned Milford Manor. It is important we keep that in mind because when something is done very badly, we get something as appalling as that. That was not the only one of its kind, although that builder also had a bad track record when it used traditional build as well, which is all a matter of public record. It is about the idea a fully timber duplex cannot even be done now.

We have kept our guests here far too long. All of that good work of the construction sector working group and the outworkings of the innovation subgroup have taken us to a point where people seem to know what we can and cannot do. We always like asking this question at the end of sessions and putting our guests on the spot. What is the one thing that Government could do to start to accelerate this? We are in the middle of a housing crisis that is getting worse. We are grappling with a climate crisis and missing our targets. In addition, we are finding it difficult to get young people into the traditional constructions trades. One of the reasons for that is they do not like having to travel from one end of the country to other and working outside, whereas if people are able to walk, cycle or drive to the factory close to their village or town in the midlands, that is a much more attractive proposition, whether it is the high-skill jobs or the standard manufacturing jobs. How do we inject some urgency into this? I take Ms Larkin’s point. There is a fair amount of consensus, and we had the folks from Enterprise Ireland and the chair of the innovation subgroup in at a previous committee meeting. It seems to be we are at the point now where somebody somewhere in power needs to kick-start the thing to the next phase. What does that jolt look like? One of the reasons we do these hearings is not just because we find these interesting but because we do short reports and we write to the Minister stating what we think the Minister should do. If we want to kick it to the next level and start to elevate it to a greater level of urgency, what is the action? I take Mr. O’Toole’s point on the cross-departmental group. That is clearly one action. Are there specific things people think?