Government plot unlikely new housing crisis solution with ‘wood first' move as Healy Rae-backed plan details revealed

The Irish Sun

6 hours ago

THE Government is branching out in its bid to solve the housing crisis with a new 'Wood First' plan that will see timber become the main building material used to build our homes, schools and libraries.
It comes as the Cabinet will today give the green light to emergency legislation to extend
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A new 'Wood first' procurement policy will be launched to ensure that timber is the 'material of choice' in the construction of public buildings
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Forestry Minister Micheal Healy-Rae said Ireland has excellent forest resources that are being underused in our construction sector
A series of memos will go before the Cabinet today that are aimed at trying to address the
Minister Martin Heydon will bring forward the first report from the Government's Timber in Construction Steering Group which calls on the State to use wood more when
Forestry Minister Micheal Healy-Rae has worked with the steering group on the report which notes that Ireland has excellent forest resources that are being underused in our construction sector.
The steering group believes that our forests have the capacity to supply the timber needed to build
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A new 'Wood first' procurement policy will be launched on the back of the report which will see State bodies ensure that timber is the "material of choice" in the construction of public buildings including schools, libraries and housing.
Forestry Minister Micheal Healy-Rae told the Irish Sun: 'If we are trying to build twenty or thirty or sixty thousand houses – every one of those will need a roof and the most environmentally friendly way you can build a roof is not with steel or anything else – it is wood.
'Again with all the partitions in houses you have people who will want to use steel fixing or concrete but at the end of the day I am encouraging people to use wood instead.
'Timber framed houses made in a factory were very big during the Boomy Boom and people will tell you to use others instead like concrete but I think we should be promoting timber.
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'We can grow it ourselves. It's our own indigenous resource. It is renewable. You plant it and it grows here, you cut it down and use it and you plant it again and it creates work locally.'
Three other plans to try tackle the housing crisis will be brought to Cabinet today by Housing Minister James Browne as Government try to speed up the slow planning process.
Sinn Fein housing spokesman Eoin O Broin reacts to record number of homeless people
As part of the new measures, former HSE boss Paul Reid will be appointed as chairman of the revamped Coimisiun Pleanala, which will replace An Bord Pleanala.
The new Commission will have mandatory times for planning applications to be complete in a bid to speed up the clogged up system.
The Cabinet will also be asked to give the Land Development Agency additional powers to develop all types of housing on public land and remove some current checks to speed up the process.
The final motion on housing to be brought to Cabinet will be emergency legislation to
NEW LAW RUSH
This follows the launch of the Government's new rent form strategy last week which has left them scrambling to draw up emergency legislation to prevent landlords cashing in on the long lead in time for the changes.
The plan launched last week will see the entire country covered by rent controls with a two per cent cap but with landlords given the power to 'reset' their rent prices every six years or for every new tenancy.
These changes were due to kick in from March 1 next year with opposition parties highlighting that the delay in extending the two per cent rent cap would enable landlords in areas that are not currently designated pressure zones jack up their prices before the new rule starts.
As a result, Minister Browne will today bring forward emergency legislation that will be rushed through the
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The Government's new rent form strategy was launched last week
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