Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

New Retrofitting Plan and the Built Environment: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Cathy Daly:

I might make some general points and I will let Dr. Engel Purcell deal with the specifics. In general terms, the Chairman mentioned a passion for heritage and that is true. The heritage sector has recognised that limiting global warming to 1.5°C is the best way to preserve heritage, so we are fully on board this train. We have a tradition of stewardship and we want to preserve heritage for future generations, so we do take a long-term view. It is important to apply that long-term view to the buildings. They have been standing there, housing people, for possibly hundreds of years and they can do the same for another few hundred years if they are treated right.

Retrofitting is possible. Perhaps we cannot do as deep a retrofit and we are not going to get to net zero, but that does not mean that these buildings are energy-inefficient necessarily, that there is nothing we can do or that it is terribly difficult. It is just perhaps not an off-the-peg solution or a solution that is the same as we would apply to a modern building. That is an important point to make.

The other point is that we value heritage buildings for a reason. They have a lot of other benefits that we need to recognise as well in terms of sense of place, identity and tourism, and all of those things need to be put in the pot as well when looking at these buildings. I will pass to Dr. Engel Purcell for the more specific questions.