Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I will pick up on another earlier contribution about embodied carbon. We discussed embodied carbon in new buildings and valuing it in existing buildings too. I appreciate the work his Department is doing in that area. This is perhaps more related to his responsibility for planning. There is embodied carbon in road construction as well. While acknowledging we need some new roads, we also have to acknowledge there is an embodied carbon element in the construction of new roads. Much of that will be captured in other areas in the construction sector. However, is there a planning piece there? Is there a role for the Minister of State's Department in valuing and accounting for the amount of embodied carbon in these big new infrastructure projects? This not only refers to road projects, but to other major developments like port development and so on, which we need. We need to know how much carbon is associated with this infrastructure. While acknowledging that carbon will be reduced in the other sectors, it is still important to know on a project by project basis how much carbon is associated with them. That is why we are doing it in the housing sector, to acknowledge Deputy Bruton's point. It is not actually in our targets. In a way it is contained in the other sectors. There is an important piece there about understanding the amount of carbon in these big new infrastructural projects. The Minister of State might tell us if any work is being done in that area. Related to that is an induced carbon piece on building new roads because of the impact it has on planning and dispersed settlement and so on. I would think there is a role for the Minister of State's Department in figuring out how much carbon is associated, both as embodied carbon and induced carbon through driving. That is notwithstanding that we are moving as much as we can towards low emission transport.