Results 1-20 of 320 for going forward speaker:Richard Bruton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: ...context. Food waste is continuing to grow, from the latest numbers I have seen. Our recycling rates are quoted as 41% and next year we have to hit 55%. We have a problem here. I am looking forward to the game-changer which I hope will come when the Minister of State publishes the circular economy strategy. As he knows, that strategy is to be sectoral. We are to have targets for...

Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Motion (18 Apr 2024)

Richard Bruton: ...back to an Oireachtas committee on this plan will be taken up. The discipline of reporting back annually is important. We need stronger institutional elements. I am disappointed that the Government has not decided that the biodiversity action plan, along with the climate action plan and the circular economy plan, when it comes back, would not be integrated and overseen by the Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Challenges Facing Businesses in Relation to Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility: Discussion (20 Mar 2024)

Richard Bruton: ...pledges get us so far. There are plastic and carbon pledges but they do not transfer to the vast majority of businesses. Maybe I have a bee in my bonnet, but I think sectoral is the way to go. We should take the food and construction sectors and make a concerted effort to establish circular principles in those sectors. That would pull in people, who currently spend a lot of their time...

Nature Restoration Law: Statements (7 Mar 2024)

Richard Bruton: ...a blind alley. That really needs to be emphasised. As much as anyone who comes from rural Ireland, I am aware that we need to be sustainable. We need to respect nature because it provides the goods we all enjoy. We need to recognise that current practices globally are extracting three times what nature can restore every year. We are running into deficit because of the way we treat...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Transport Infrastructure Ireland (30 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...area where this has been designated a strategic hub. As the Minister has fairly outlined, two of the key strategic assets to enable it are in private hands and are not working. If we want to go ahead with these higher-density, more sustainable developments, which we do, we need to put some money on the table to fix these problems. There do not seem to be planning conditions in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...commitment to the 42% reduction, taking into account a lower level of offsets. That is a significant milestone. It is short of what we set out in our legislation but it is a significant step forward and there are very positive trends there. There is huge potential for Ireland to deliver renewable energy on a much wider scale. Representatives from the Climate Change Advisory Council...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: COP28: Discussion (28 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: I thank the witnesses for the presentations. As the Chairman said, there is an enormous volume of material here and it is difficult to put it into a framework where it is easy for us to drive it forward. As I understand it, Ireland is trying to align itself to the European Green Deal, and I know from being also a member of the enterprise committee that that is quite a challenge, with the...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...change, but there is a big swathe of businesses to which this message is not getting through and for which the take-up of these measures is very low. We need to think differently about how we are going to approach this context. I commend the Minister of State on the schemes. I also commend Enterprise Ireland on its green audits and so on. There is lots of stuff out there. We need,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Sustainable Development Goals: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...Ireland and a tiny percentage are engaged with Enterprise Ireland and the programmes that are designed to leverage transformation to make sustainability a permanent feature. Are alarm bells going off in the Department that we need to make a major shift in this area? That is certainly the sense I have. The Department has developed a decent suite of policies and at a high level we know...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Engagement with Chairperson of Enterprise Ireland (25 Oct 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...of food production, the truth is it has a much greater impact on biodiversity, climate and so on than is often thought. We need to look at these supply chains and consider original strategies and good opportunities to ask how sustainable our model is. It may go back to primary producers and it may go forward to how our supermarkets are presenting, but I would not underrate that sector....

Progress on the National Parks and Wildlife Service: Statements (6 Jul 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...needs to be commended on the progress being made. As he said, 95% of Natura regions are now subject to regulation. There is a significant shift in the State attitude, with Bord na Móna's title going from brown to green and Coillte's target of 50% of its forestry being managed for diversity, building from the present 20%. There are grounds for optimism that we can make the shift,...

Matters Arising in RTÉ: Statements (4 Jul 2023)

Richard Bruton: This is an appalling mess and I am not going to go over the details of what we have heard. I welcome the work of the Oireachtas committees and the Minister's appointment of two reviews and a forensic accountant. It will be important to await the outcome of these works before we draw long-term conclusions. It is clearly important we have a robust RTÉ coming out of this, with proper...

Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Temporary Solidarity Contribution) Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2023)

Richard Bruton: I was amused to listen to the simplistic caricature of Government policy on the energy challenge from my fellow county man. It is important that this House realises that our emissions are already 60% higher than the rest of Europe, we are the most fossil fuel-dependent in Europe and we have the highest import dependency in Europe. We need to undertake transformational change within our...

Nature Restoration Law and Irish Agriculture: Statements (31 May 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...if we are to deliver this change. It is tempting for people to say, as I hear Members in the House say, that we should look at the science, which gives us a target and then let us have legal measures to go after these greedy people and make sure they deliver. That is a blind alley. Anyone who looks to the future of this country must see that is the case. It would create conflict that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (11 May 2023)

Richard Bruton: While we have now decided that is where we want to go, we are certainly not very advanced on the path. We passed legislation providing that every sector should have a strategy for circularity but I do not see sectoral strategies being evolved. The Dutch, who are the leaders in this field, have such strategies. We need to offer enterprise and consumers much more information on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: IBEC and Science Foundation Ireland: Discussion (3 May 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...wonder whether pushing the grant up to €7,000 is what makes some of those bigger companies tick. As Ms McGee stated, it is in the ESB's DNA. It does not do it because it gets €7,000 from the Government. It does it because it sees it as part of its good business model and its corporate responsibility. I am all for more investment, but we must find ways of creating...

Report of the Independent Review Group on Dignity and Equality Issues in the Defence Forces: Statements (30 Mar 2023)

Richard Bruton: ...massive changes must be made. I will be interested to hear the view of the Tánaiste on how an inquiry is to be conducted. I have been a long time around this House. The Tánaiste has been around for a good deal of that time, although not all of it by any means. We have been disappointed by inquiries set up in good faith by successive Governments. They have often been a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Architects of the Good Friday Agreement (Resumed): Mr. John Bruton (8 Dec 2022)

Richard Bruton: I actually said in my presentation that I accept 50% plus one is sufficient. We cannot change that at this stage. An attempt to change it would go nowhere. I do not believe in tilting at windmills for no purpose. That is what we have got to live with. However, we must ask the voters to take a more sophisticated view of the matter and ask, in deciding to vote at a particular time, whether...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Special Educational Needs (9 Nov 2022)

Richard Bruton: ...therapist deployed for Covid work and the scheme has run into difficulties since. It has not taken on the expansion. In a recent court case, the approach taken to try to move children forward has been deemed not to meet the needs of the legislation. We need to look at everything, including the legislation, to see if we can do better for these children. If we are having assessments...

Personal Injuries Resolution Board Bill 2022: Second Stage (5 Oct 2022)

Richard Bruton: It is often said that sunshine is the best disinfectant. One of the things the Government has done very successfully is change the debate about insurance, which used to be conducted entirely in the dark and there was a blame game with people pointing the finger at fraudsters, ambulance-chasing lawyers and insurance companies that did not care about what premium they set because they could...