Ms Virginia Teehan:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. We have been engaging with the Department of heritage, which is responsible for the delivery of that policy. The architecture officer has been a member of the group responsible for the development of the policy.

On the date of issue and the other question the Deputy posed, I am afraid I do not have that information because we are not part of the delivery of the policy. We have been part of the consultation for its development. We are proposing and have recommended that a comprehensive life-cycle approach to the construction and management of new and existing buildings be adopted. I understand that is included.

As Ms Moloney said, this is an area where we need to upskill ourselves. Our knowledge is good. We agree with the view that the most sustainable building is the one that exists. We direct funding towards the owners of buildings to support them in the protection of those buildings and wish to continue to do so. It is a difficult area for us because it is sometimes hard for agencies to support private owners in the management of their properties, but we are supportive of that through our historic towns initiatives and other grant schemes. We look forward in our strategic plan to developing more work in this area and continuing to work with the Department to ensure that policy applies widely to historic buildings as much as new buildings.