Mr. P.J. Ryan:

We do not want to confuse two issues here. Heat pumps have nothing to do with the heating system, so that is nothing to do with ventilation. I think Deputy Healy-Rae is pointing to a ventilation issue. That is part of the building regulations. I renovated my 1970s home, insulated it and made it airtight. I actually got rid of the chimney, but I did put in an extract ventilation system that runs 24 hours a day and I have my wall vents, so it is constantly pulling in fresh air all the time. People can override systems and block vents.

As for recirculation systems, this room here will have an air handling unit up on the roof and it will circulate fresh air, extract air and take the heat from the extract. That is what a heat recovery unit is. We are getting fresh air, it is just not cooled outside air. My wife has to open the windows and get that sense of fresh air. It is clean air but there is no reason we cannot have clean air with a heat recovery system. It is just temperate warm air. That is one aspect of it.

I have worked in building services as an engineer. There are two things with fresh air: one part of it is for people to breathe. The other part of it is to dilute internal contaminants. All the things within a house - paints, varnishes and furniture, especially when they are new, give off gases. That is possibly more of a cause of respiratory issues rather than the ventilation system. It would be good if people were more aware of low VOC paints and using better materials in the house, perhaps those issues would not arise. Ventilation is critically important but we can still open windows in a house when it is overheating.