Results 21-40 of 4,379 for speaker:Jennifer Whitmore

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: We will start with B.14, the essential retrofit loan scheme. How many loans have been issued over the past year under that scheme?

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: Residential.

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: I know €3 million is not much in the grand scheme of things, but how does it cost €3 million to run that programme when it is ultimately just pointing people to different banks?

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: How many staff work in that area?

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: That would be great.

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: On the retrofit programmes, the priority of those is decarbonisation. I think there is a missed opportunity to have more of a focus on energy poverty alongside that element. Many people who come to my office are in or at risk of energy poverty and their homes are very old. They cannot get their homes retrofitted through the schemes. I have a long list of difficulties. To be fair, the...

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: Well, would the Minister set money aside in-----

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: If solar grants were included in the warmer homes scheme, I think that would be a game-changer for people who are at risk of poverty, including energy poverty. The closer we get to winter, I think this will become more of an issue, so I welcome the fact that the Minister will look at this when he is looking at the scheme in the round. As regards this subhead, energy transformation, is...

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: No, subhead B, energy transformation. Is that the part of the budget that would-----

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: So, potentially, it would be a new subhead.

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: When does the Minister expect that that will begin construction? Well, it is not construction, is it, because it is a-----

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: It was the last time the Minister was before the committee that he had just received the letter from the board.

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: Has the Minister written back to the board?

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: It is C5. I am getting the hang of this. I have a comment to make initially. Obviously, the purpose of Inland Fisheries Ireland is to conserve and protect the resource. I am looking at the public policy impact and the outcomes. The Department is measuring the number of rivers assessed and the number of salmon licence sales. Would it consider looking at the number of salmon returning?...

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: What about the rivers trusts? I am sure I asked-----

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: They are voluntary organisations. It is an all-Ireland programme. They are in the UK as well. They bring in local stakeholders, including local experts. I was on one. That is why I am especially interested in it. They are a brilliant resource and they do an incredible amount of work, but unfortunately there is no funding being provided to them for administrative purposes and it is very...

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: Okay, so maybe it is.

Select Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 29 - Climate, Energy and the Environment (Revised) (16 Jul 2025)

Jennifer Whitmore: Okay.