Results 7,721-7,740 of 15,018 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: Each construction project is different and projects are at different stages. Of course, it is not that one would not have some transitional arrangement, but if the transitional arrangement is too broad or too blunt, there is the risk of incurring greater charges at a later point in time, if at a later point in time our descendents after we are long gone are having a conversation about how to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is to be hoped if building control is capturing all of that properly, but yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I understand that. I am not arguing against it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: The specific point in Article 9.1 is just the reference to not impacting on rental supply. Some 25% of households in Dublin are renters and 20% of households across the State are renters. There is a heavy concentration of lower income families with poor BER ratings and higher energy poverty. I am not arguing that we do anything that reduces rental supply because our private rental sector...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: We are talking about two different parts of Mr. Armstrong's comment on Article 9.1. I am referring specifically to the impact on private rental supply; it is about halfway down.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will pick up from the Chair's discussion with Mr. Armstrong about skills. A problem with that report is it is based on the HNDA target of 33,000 on average per year. I know Mr. Armstrong will not comment on this but I will make the point anyway for the record. When we get to the other side of the census, get all the new inputted census data and revise the HNDA, we will see that the level...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: That is the concern I have. We know the built environment is responsible for approximately 30% of emissions, 10% of which is embodied carbon. That Irish Green Building Council research is important because it shows if all the good work people here and elsewhere are doing continues to be done in terms of energy efficiency, then the carbon emissions from our energy systems and operational...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: It sounds like a working group that is lying down but clearly that is not the case.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am being flippant - my apologies.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not suggesting that we should have a standard separate to the EU-wide standard, particularly given the volume of our construction materials, not to mention construction industry professionals, that come from outside the State. The issue is that once all that is in place, a separate piece of work must be done then in potentially changing our building and fire safety regulations and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: Will Mr. Armstrong explain what those frameworks are in plain English? We know the development cycle, particularly for large residential developments, is five to seven years from when a site is acquired, planning permission is sought, go to tender, procurement, etc. With each year or six-month period that passes, seven years of a development cycle of individual projects is lost. Is Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes - 100%.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is not about specific technologies. I accept and understand the argument that we must have an agreed methodology for calculating the volume of carbon in any particular building product. The reason we want to do that is then we will know that a certain product has lower carbon than another product. The next bit of work involves deciding how we make sure everybody uses this product. I do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I get that, but that is the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and when that Department is in, I will grill it on that. There is nothing to say that once that methodology is in place, the planning system could not be revised to privilege certain types of building materials. I do not mean individual building products but products that have a certain embodied carbon level. There is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: What I am hearing from Mr. Armstrong is that bit of work will happen after the methodologies, certificates and frameworks are agreed. That is not being prepped in parallel now.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am just asking-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am not convinced but I hear Mr. Armstrong.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I do not dispute that but our difficulty is that if the Government's targets are met, we will churn out a considerable volume of homes. Those homes will contribute significantly to emissions outputs. This is in no way to show a criticism of anything Mr. Armstrong has said and the information he gives to committee is always very helpful to us, but there is an opportunity now to do this as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive: Discussion (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: It is not that I do not. It is just that we have heard from them and we will hear from them again.