Ms Orla Hegarty:

I will address the question on data first. It is difficult to measure buildings. We have buildings in use that are 200 or 300 years old. We have buildings that have been adapted over time. We have new buildings and some that have energy upgrades. People have used them in different ways. Sometimes they are used in a more crowded way than they were designed for or for a different purpose. It is difficult to make comparisons.

We do not have ventilation regulated centrally in any way in Europe. Each country regulates its standards. Obviously, there is the factor of the local climate and other conditions.

Some other countries are doing far better in the pandemic response, especially Asian countries that have adopted this approach right from the beginning. Countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and China have responded with a clear message on ventilation as prevention. They did this from the beginning of the pandemic. Western countries, especially English-speaking western countries, have been especially slow and, I would say, resistant to adopting this as part of the pandemic response. We can see the outcomes in comparing cases and deaths across the two different regions.

Who is responsible? Responsibility is scattered. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has standards for new buildings. As we know, we have self-certification of new buildings, so certifying compliance is in the control of the developer or owner and not necessarily picked up anywhere independently. Having standards and performance are two different things. We can have an issue with the people who operate the building not knowing how it should be considered and so they may block up vents or overpopulate rooms. The remit of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage stops at construction. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has some responsibility in respect of air quality standards. The Health and Safety Authority has a role under workplace health and safety. Then again, not every building is a workplace. There is inconsistency and there has not been a focus on this. Building regulation standards only tend to change in response to an event. If there is a structural collapse, a fire or some other emergency, we tend to react and have new regulations. We have not had an issue with air quality since the tuberculosis era.

We have drifted into a medical response to issues, whereby we medicate and treat the illness rather than prevent it. We have probably had 50 years of this, building from the oil crisis. We have not had the experience of SARS or other pandemics that some other countries have had in more recent years. Now is the time to react to this event and take it seriously.