Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I have one more question about the employment aspect and then I will move on to the type of energy used in modular buildings.

I can see the desire in some quarters to say we should shorten the apprenticeship. We would end up with a kind of modularised construction worker because these things are flat-pack. They can be put together, plug and play as was said, as regards much of the electrics, plumbing and so on. Doing an apprenticeship is not just about the discipline. People must learn on site how the site works including health and safety and all those things. In the rush to get someone out the other end and qualified quickly, we do not want to cut short the other learning applications that go with learning a trade. That is just an observation.

As regards energy use, when we talk about the risk of fire in timber frame buildings, if we were to go to air-to-heat technology and not use any fossil fuel type combustion - no gas cooking - and just use electric cooking, electric heating and so on, that derisks it as well. Is that something that is being considered? Is the volumetric all electric?