Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom, i dtús báire, fáilte a chur roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. Tá áthas orm go bhfhuil an deis agam labhairt sa díospóireacht seo.

I welcome this Green Party motion on timber use in construction. The State must drive demand in the timber sector. There has been much talk about this issue, the technology is there and other countries are already leading on this. We need the Government to lead the way and create a pipeline for the technology by putting it to use in public building projects such as schools and houses. This would develop the market for the technology.

Significant advances have been made by Irish companies in the development of high-quality timber-based products that meet the building control, fire safety and lifespan requirements for public housing. When delivered at scale, these products can be quicker to assemble and result in lower costs and lower carbon emissions than traditional building methodologies. They are also good for attracting more people into the labour force, given that it can sometimes be difficult to encourage people to join the wet trades in the construction sector. A great deal of timber construction work is done inside and off-site, though.

Sinn Féin is committed to a reform of the building regulations to permit timber-based residential developments above 10 m, subject to the highest fire safety and building control regulations. In many spheres, we look across the water to our neighbours in Scotland for an excellent example. Consider how Scotland has implemented its just transition and its climate Act, how it has rolled out its deposit return scheme and how it has set energy poverty reduction targets. Now we can add leading on the roll-out of timber frame houses to that list, given that such houses account for more than 75% of newly constructed homes in Scotland. In Ireland, the figure is 24%.

The Department of Housing, Heritage and Local Government must step up to the plate. One of the steps it could take is to provide clear and consistent guidance surrounding the safe use of timber. It should revisit Part B of the 2006 building regulations technical guidance documents. It needs to use a specific framework agreement that is open to manufacturers providing timber-framed public buildings. It also has to use low-emission cement, as there is going to be an ongoing role for some amount of concrete. We need to use existing technologies to achieve the lowest possible emissions.

I have mentioned some of the benefits of building with timber, but carbon emissions are the prime reason this needs to happen so urgently. I am not sure if the penny has dropped within the Department, though. Section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 states categorically that the Minister must have regard to the need to reduce emissions. Unfortunately, we are seeing no evidence that the Department is taking its responsibilities seriously. It has twice been asked to appear before the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action to express how it will meet its sectoral targets, and twice it has declined to do so. We need to hear from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, an outline of how he is going to reach those sectoral targets.

The built environment and construction make up a significant portion of our emissions. Of emissions in the built environment sector, 14% come from the production of construction materials, the transport of materials, the construction process, and the maintenance, repair and disposal of buildings and infrastructure. We need to consider embodied emissions more carefully. We all agree that the lowest carbon building is the one that has already been built, so the most carbon-efficient building practice is to reuse the existing building stock we have. This has the double benefit of revitalising our towns and villages.

I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State, but we need to know that the Government is taking a joined-up approach. The Minister of State gets this, as the Green Party is serious about this issue, but I do not believe that the Minister has fully got his head around what he and his Department need to be doing on emissions reduction and adopting proven technologies. We need to hear from him on this matter.

The Department must work with stakeholders, including the Irish Green Building Council, the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Home Builders Association and the County and City Management Association, to set out a clear and ambitious pathway that ensures that the construction industry plays its part in meeting our legally binding 2030 and 2050 emissions reduction targets.

Sinn Féin is happy to support this motion and we thank the Green Party for using its Private Members' business to table it and discuss this important topic, but we have had enough talk. We need more planning. It is time to put the plans into action and deliver timber-framed social housing and public buildings. We need to be reassured that the Minister is serious about his role under the Act.