Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Healy-Rae for raising this matter. It gives me an opportunity to say for the first time that my heart goes out to the people affected right across the country, especially on the western seaboard, many of whom have, for almost two weeks, gone without either power, running water and the bare essentials. I cannot begin to imagine how difficult that is for them. Luckily, west Cork, where I am from, was not hit as bad as other areas. Some parts of Kerry were clearly hit pretty bad and we have to take cognisance of and acknowledge that.

I thank wholeheartedly the emergency services, local authority staff, fire crews and medical staff. Across the board, their response to this emergency has been incredible. In particular, I pay tribute to the nurses and staff of some hospitals. On the night of the storm, before the worst winds hit, staff and nurses in hospitals throughout Ireland, including Clonakilty Community Hospital, Bantry Hospital, Cork University Hospital and, I am sure, hospitals in County Kerry, got mattresses out and stayed overnight to ensure patients received the best care. I want to acknowledge that.

On the point Deputy Healy-Rae put across incredibly well, I am sure lots of people along the western seaboard who have fireplaces or stoves were very glad they had them. Electric heat pumps are the way to go in electrifying heat and having efficient homes but that will be at a point where we have a steady and reliable grid and supply of electricity. People across the country were glad they have stoves and fireplaces and the Deputy put that eloquently.

In response to the Deputy's point, there is no requirement, from this Department at least, to remove chimneys. That is set in stone, as I will explain later.

The technicality involved is that all new dwellings must comply with building regulations, the aim of which is to provide for the safety and welfare of people in and about buildings and, in addition, to achieve 60-year durability for all key elements. The building regulations set out the minimum requirements for the construction of new buildings and certain works to existing buildings.

The climate action plan commits to reducing the use of fossil fuels in buildings and that the energy performance requirements for new buildings are set out in accordance with the nearly zero energy building, NZEB, requirements of the energy performance of buildings directive. NZEB means a building that has a very high energy performance with nearly zero or a very low amount of the energy required covered to a significant extent by energy from renewable sources. As NZEB dwellings have a very high fabric performance, the heat will typically be retained for a longer period in an NZEB dwelling than in an average dwelling.

Building regulations require new dwellings to achieve an overall energy and carbon emissions performance which is calculated using the dwelling energy assessment performance published by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

Secondary heating systems such as single room solid fuel stoves using renewable wood can still be installed in new housing under building regulations once the overall energy performance requirement for the dwelling is achieved. That speaks to the Deputy's point.

Overall, modern highly insulated houses retain the heat for much longer than traditional uninsulated houses and are more resilient during power cuts, while, at the same time, reducing carbon emissions from the built environment.

With regard to the retrofit of local authority homes, in 2021 a new holistic approach was applied to the local authority energy efficient retrofit programme. This was designed around a programme for Government commitment and led by the Department for the Environment, Climate and Communications.

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