Ms Orla Coyle:

Regarding skill sets, I note that the Departments of Housing, Planning and Local Government and Communications, Climate Action and Environment and the SEAI have been working quite closely with Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board. We have developed a training specification for both new builds and retrofit. This will create skills relevant to ventilation, the finishes on wall construction etc. That training specification is in place. Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board has already started to roll out the training. The action plan calls for this to be rolled out nationwide.

The issue of nearly zero energy buildings is relevant to the new Part L of the building regulations. Part L has been available on the website of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government since last week or the week before. That means we basically set performance targets. There is a requirement for 20% renewable technology within all new building stock that goes onto the market. That requirement is technology-neutral, so heat pumps, photovoltaic technology and other technologies can be used.