Mr. Pat Barry:

Yes. Some of it is a consequence of transportation and constructing the building but most of it is from the process of manufacturing the material. What we are trying to do is to get manufacturers to produce data, and we have an environmental product declaration, EPD, programme that gets them to do that. It is not just about the material itself but also about the quantity used, so it about optimisation of the structure and using less as well as using lower carbon materials.

Again, there are great opportunities for the rural economy in producing lower-carbon materials like fibre or hemp insulation. In France a farmers' co-operative has developed a whole business around hemp insulation. We do not produce any of that in Ireland. We could produce lower-carbon wood fibre insulation from our forests. We need to move to timber frame and CLT instead of concrete.