Results 6,301-6,320 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: It will always win out. It will come out ahead of the timber panels prefabricated off-site, which is what I am thinking of rather than concrete panels.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: Is anybody of the view that there is massive potential for off-site construction and for building these panels in factories in this country? Is this what people refer to as modular building?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: That leads me to the area of skills. With regard to apprenticeships, I do not know if we are but, if we are moving more towards modular or prefabricated construction - and I am not referring to the volumetric method here - different skill sets are required. Different carpentry skills are required. Are the apprenticeships moving at the required rate? Are they set in that direction at the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: I know we have a shortage of apprentices but-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: Does Enterprise Ireland see a sort of amalgamation of skills there and workers who are technically proficient in putting together prefabricated housing on-site being developed? I refer to workers who may not necessarily be carpenters, plasterer or blocklayers but to a role that could be developed to ensure the panels are put together properly, that there are not big gaps and that the homes...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: With regard to marketing, if I drive by a newly developed housing estate in Wicklow or elsewhere, I will see them described as A2 or A-rated housing. If that marketing sign also had to state the construction method was E-rated, would it be helpful in driving the market? Are people aware of the embodied carbon or the materials going into the house, even when the house is A-rated with low...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: I asked a question on this earlier on and I believe the planning system is the place to address these issues, that is, in the earlier part of the development process. That is my view on the matter anyway.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: Mr. Kerrigan has indicated, as has Deputy Flaherty who I will call after Mr. Kerrigan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: The big question is, how do we encourage it? What do we do?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: I do not want to open up an entirely new conversation because we only have five minutes left but what is the life expectancy of the building Mr. O'Connor has just described versus the conventional block build? Are we talking about exactly like for like there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: I have one last question for Mr. O'Connor. He provided a slide on carbon capture in practice, which lists different trees. Is the spruce that is referred to in the list of moderate-growing trees the Sitka spruce with which we are familiar?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: Deputy Duffy referred earlier to exported timber. Has Sitka spruce got a role in construction? Can it be used in timber frame construction?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: Is that what we use?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Carbon and Energy within the Construction Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (3 May 2022)

Steven Matthews: Thank you Mr. O'Connor. I thank all of our witnesses. Today's meeting was very informative. Some members, particularly Deputies Duffy and Ó Broin, have a level of expertise in this area but I found our discussion very informative and helpful. This is the second in a series of meetings and we will be putting together a report in due course which will include some of the...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Vacant Properties (28 Apr 2022)

Steven Matthews: 19. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the effectiveness on implementing a vacant homes tax, collectable by the Revenue Commissioners with the purpose of bringing additional properties into the housing market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21260/22]