Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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I refer to the context of new buildings, as well as the challenge of using more sustainable materials and reducing the carbon that will be built into the buildings at construction stage. I am thinking about timber and how in this country there is a regulatory barrier to using timber, particularly in taller buildings. If I remember correctly, in an earlier meeting of the housing committee it was stated that there is a problem with Technical Guidance Document B, TGD-B, which relates to fire. As I understand it, that is just guidance and not law, but it is what everybody ultimately follows. Has there been any work on that? This is a question for the Department, but has the Irish Green Building Council engaged with the Department on this particular barrier to using timber in larger and taller buildings, as is happening in other European countries?