Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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It saves the need for everybody to come in twice. This is around planning issues. We talk about housing but actually what we see in the city centre is many empty office blocks. I live in the city centre in Dublin and we are surrounded by empty office blocks. There is that question and there is talk about reusing and repurposing them. There is also the question of appropriate use of scarce sites when we are looking to facilitate development. While I understand that they were profitable in terms of portfolio, they have not actually delivered very much for us.

There are questions about higher buildings. There is a lot of talk about delivering environmentally. However, we just see a lot of high office buildings. That can diminish light. Has there been much examination of the issue of light, from an environmental perspective? We know it is a really key issue in terms of reducing energy usage, besides all the associated health issues. I am asking about proper analysis of light as an environmental issue within building design and building standards. We need to strengthen provisions in terms of light. That could be clarified-----