Results 7,641-7,660 of 14,944 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Aids and Appliances (28 Apr 2022)

Eoin Ó Broin: 281. To ask the Minister for Health if he will investigate the current impasse that seems to be preventing the undertaking of a health technology assessment for the Freestyle Libre device; if not, if he will offer a different process to enable this to take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21574/22]

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I thank all the witnesses for their presentations. In the first round I will stick to the recast issue and I have specific questions for Mr. Armstrong on his Department's observations from last December. I will ask more general questions if there is a second round of questions. One of my concerns about the observations made by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I ask Mr. Armstrong to return to the three questions we did not have time for in the previous round. To recap quickly, one of the questions related to the Department's observation on Article 2(23). Was there more of a focus on the operational rather than embodied carbon, if I understood it right? If so, was that a weakness? My second question was in respect of the Department's comments...

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

Eoin Ó Broin: The Department is not suggesting carving out some of the manufactured related emissions separately. Those will still be fully calculated.

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

Eoin Ó Broin: I am asking about the view of the Department.

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...