Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Lawlor mentioned the effect of ventilation on health. The regulation change in guidance document F is about ventilation. They go hand in hand. If one is to insulate a house more and make it warmer, then one has to have proper ventilation. The Senator was correct when he said that without proper ventilation one can have health difficulties. Under the regulation changes it will be the opposite and there will be very positive health outcomes, as we will have the right combination. It will be a positive story. I have no doubt that somebody will try to say it is not, but when one reads about it and looks at the science behind it we can see it will result in healthy outcomes. Ireland leads the way in energy efficient housing. We are very clear on this. In fairness, I must praise Fianna Fáil and other previous Governments because Ireland has progressively moved in this space over the last 20 to 30 years in improving the regulations on the quality in the build of a house. We are leaders in Europe when it comes to energy efficient homes, providing we build them that way and stick to the regulations. There have been difficulties with how regulations were met, but I will return to the issue of apartments shortly. It has generally, however, been an improvement and has been a good news story.

I will progress in order and will now address Senator Humphrey's points on the apartments that were built wrong. This is still a big issue. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy and I have said in both this House and the Dáil that we do not have a way to address this that does not expose the taxpayer to a massive bill with regard to these apartments. They were built wrong, not built to regulations and not built properly. We have intervened when there have been faulty products or materials such as pyrite and mica in Dublin, Meath and Kildare in Leinster, and with the incidences of mica in Mayo and Donegal. That is a different area and a different space, and a redress plan was set up for that. They, however, were faulty materials. The apartment issue is different. I said that I would meet somebody, but then it changed afterwards. We will talk about that again. I said that I would meet anybody who had solutions and ideas around how to deal with this.That is not what was in the email, however. We can return to that matter.

Senator Humphreys also raised the issue of co-living, about which he raised concerns in a previous debate on legislation. Others have since jumped on the bandwagon but he was the only Member to express concerns at the time. We do not share those concerns because we do not consider co-living as the only housing option. A check of the various planning applications being made would show it is not the only type of housing coming forward. We are not saying this is a solution for social housing. The private market will build co-living units for some people. The model works very well in other cities and I do not see why it will not work well here. Senator Humphreys is convinced that all of Dublin will be co-living and I do not think that is where we will go.