An Taisce, the Irish National Trust, is stepping up its campaign to see uPVC windows removed from the country’s historic building stock and replaced with timber alternatives.

The move follows the Irish Planning Board’s announcement that uPVC windows may not be used in buildings of “architectural merit”, which came after conservationists complained about uPVC windows used in the conversion of a Georgian building in Dublin into a pub.

Dublin City Council agreed and refused permission. The John Hanlon pub, which had already installed the windows, took its case to the Planning Appeals Board and lost.

An Taisce claims uPVC windows are a “national disease” and has started to check all privately-owned historic buildings around the country. Where it finds any offending uPVC windows, it will contact the local authority and urge it to prosecute.

“The problem,” said An Taisce heritage officer Ian Lumley, “is that the Irish [prosecution] system lays an unsatisfactory level of delegation on local authorities, many of whom are often offenders themselves. In some cases, they should be prosecuting themselves.”