Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 37 specifically focused on climate, whereas embodied carbon and climate are part of amendment No. 36. Heritage has a massive role to play. I believe this, have argued for it in the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, and it is reflected in the committee's reports. It is spoken of in a paper from Andrew Potts, which was published by the ICOMOS group. It warns that while climate change is one of the great threats to people's living environment and cultural heritage worldwide, heritage has a key role to play. When we look to conserve our heritage, we also look at the reuse, adaptation and changing of buildings. This is much more effective in terms of carbon intensity than building something that, no matter how energy efficient, might take between 80 and 100 years to replace the amount of embodied emissions. There is an argument for the reuse of buildings.

When we discussed the circular economy at the joint committee, there was a lot of focus on tech solutions. They tend to take centre stage. In fact, some of the time-intensive and care-intensive heritage skills, which cover everything from the building of shutters to the preservation and reuse of materials, are some of the most effective ways to minimise our resource use and ensure we have the most effective heritage solutions. A lot of climate solutions come not only from future and sometimes hypothetical technological solutions but also from some of the more employment-intensive and skill-intensive heritage practices, which should be supported as part of any programme of new climate investment and just transition. I am glad I got to speak to these issues, as they are also included in this amendment. I urge that it form part of the Minister of State's consideration. The national development plan perhaps touches on the embodied carbon piece more than the skills, but he might give his thoughts.