Results 7,281-7,300 of 15,060 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: 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.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: The reason I was bracketing that stuff off is because-----

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

Eoin Ó Broin: The reason I was bracketing that stuff off was because they will tell us that themselves. I know Mr. Armstrong has said it was not these sections but planning, building control and fire safety regulations will be critical in reform of those three areas if the really good work other Departments and the outwork on the EU directives is to be accelerated in terms of delivery. I presume Mr....

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

Eoin Ó Broin: That I know.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I accept all of that.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: Absolutely not. Let us take cement and concrete. If we take the approach Mr. Armstrong has just outlined, the vested interests that have made high levels of investment in recent years in their higher carbon facilities will desperately resist the shift to many of these new methods of construction. One of the challenges to the building industry will be that some of the companies and...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (4 May 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Will the Taoiseach outline the progress he and the Minister for Foreign Affairs have made in recent years in advancing supports, protections and rights for undocumented Irish living in the United States? Government engagements with the diaspora when in the US are, of course, enormously important. However, they will be viewed by many as shallow if not...