Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It might be worth pursuing this report at the Oireachtas joint committee. It is really important. I wholeheartedly support what the Deputy is bringing forward. There is also the sustainable products initiative, which will widen the scope of the eco-design directive to all products. It will introduce requirements relating to durability, reusability, hazardous chemicals, energy and resource efficiency, carbon and environmental footprints, and recyclable content while also ensuring the performance and safety of products. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, is working on the circular economy and green procurement. It would be worthwhile to try to tease out in more detail all of those combined elements at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I again refer to older buildings, such as 20th century buildings, many of which, unfortunately, are being demolished in Dublin. Some of them are only 40 or 50 years old and have significant amounts of embodied carbon that should be repurposed and reused.

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