Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A unit will be set up in SEAI under the new directive. That will deal with embodied carbon frameworks. The EU directive will apply to new builds from 1 January 2027 and will apply to all builds from three years later. The Minister is saying that it is moving. We want to bring it as low as possible. Going back to what the Chair said earlier, we need to do empirical work to measure that. The Department is currently, with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, producing a business case for the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, to set up the specific unit within SEAI to measure embodied carbon. It would do measurements, accounting and put frameworks in place. While it puts pressure on officials, we would look to put it ahead of that, in order that we can bring down the embodied carbon in existing buildings and new buildings too. The Deputy asked about measurements. One major feature involves bringing in something for that accounting measure. That needs to be done empirically.