Results 441-460 of 28,135 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Staff (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I can confirm the position is unchanged from my Department's reply to the Deputy on 10 June 2025, reference Dáil Question 217, which stated: “There is one Principal Officer in my Department with responsibility for inland fisheries, including the legislation referred to in the Question”.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: EU Directives (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department is developing Ireland’s National Building Renovation Plan which will outline the renovation of the residential and non-residential building stock, both public and private, into a highly energy-efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050, with the objective of transforming existing buildings into zero-emission buildings. As part of our role in the coordination...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Action Plan (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department, along with the SEAI, has considered a range of policy options available including the possibility of policies that would prohibit, or impose a levy on, the use of fossil fuels in industry under certain conditions or in industrial applications that meet particular criteria after specific milestone dates. Following consideration, this policy option is not currently being...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Conservation (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department funds a number of grant schemes, administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), to support homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. These schemes include grants for the fabric upgrade of buildings, as well as solar PV and heat pump installation. The various SEAI residential and community energy efficiency upgrade schemes have different...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Prices (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government is committed to addressing high energy costs experienced by Irish consumers. The Programme for Government acknowledges the increased energy cost pressures on households and businesses and commits to bringing forward measures to help contain these costs. Earlier this year, Government approved an extension of the 9% VAT rate currently applied to gas and electricity by a further...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Expenditure (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Iron Mountain is the current provider of offsite storage for files for my Department but this contract is managed by the Office of Public Works (OPW). My Department pays for boxes, retrievals and the sending of files to Iron Mountain. I am advised that this has cost €61,602 over the last 5 years. My Department does not pay for external storage of vehicles and/or IT hardware.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Departmental Funding (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: In 2021, the Department of Transport, in conjunction with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, announced the introduction of a pilot initiative to develop a scheme for the provision of high quality up-cycled bicycles and e-bikes for those on low incomes and/or most marginalised and disadvantaged, via Pobal’s Community Services Programme. Five...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: In accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993, each local authority has statutory responsibility for the improvement and maintenance of their regional and local roads. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State Road grants. Of these grants, the vast majority (approximately 90%) are targeted at the maintenance and...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the EV charging network over the coming years. EV infrastructure standards are mandated through European regulations, the ITS Directive, the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation, and Irish legislation and regulations. The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) has been in...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The regulator for sale of electricity in Ireland is Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU). They are also regulators of all the main suppliers of electricity in Ireland; ESB, ESBN and EirGrid. Any entity that supplies electricity to end-users is required under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (the “1999 Act”) to hold an electricity supply licence. The CRU published two...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the electric vehicle (EV) charging network over the coming years. Having an effective and reliable charging network is an essential part of enabling drivers to make the switch to electric vehicles. Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI), a dedicated Office which oversees and accelerates...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The regulator for sale of electricity in Ireland is Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU). They are also regulators of all the main suppliers of electricity in Ireland; ESB, ESBN and EirGrid. Any entity that supplies electricity to end-users is required under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 (the “1999 Act”) to hold an electricity supply licence. The CRU published two...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: EV infrastructure standards are mandated through European regulations, the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), and Irish legislation and regulations. At an EU level, AFIR lays down common technical specifications and requirements for EV recharging infrastructure, including payment requirements to ensure a seamless and easy charging experience for users. As stated in both...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: To date, my Department has not conducted any research, or conducted any public consultations on the merits of a public information campaign regarding driver knowledge on the range of electricity unit prices for EV charging. Price setting by electricity suppliers and charge point operators is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned. Each such company has its own...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Price setting by electricity suppliers and charge point operators is a commercial and operational matter for the companies concerned and the Department has no role. Each such company has its own approach to pricing mechanisms in accordance with factors such as their overall company strategic direction and developments in their cost base. Public charging, because of higher standing charges...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Departmental Expenditure (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 148 and 149 together. I can confirm that my Department has not engaged any contract for products or services from companies based in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the past 2 years. In addition, the Department is not aware of any indirect acquisition of products, regarding the operation of third party supply chains within contracts....

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: From July 2025, the green ‘flash’ plates are available for all eligible new and existing electric vehicles. The green ‘flash’ plate is available for all vehicles that produce zero emissions at the tailpipe. This includes fully battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and, in future, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The new plate can be fitted to cars, vans, motorbikes, trucks...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Motor Industry (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 151 and 152 together. As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and exchequer funding in relation to the National Roads Programme. Under the Roads Acts 1993-2015 and in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), the planning, construction and operation of individual national roads is a matter for Transport Infrastructure...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (23 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As the Deputy may be aware, BusConnects is a transformative programme of investment in the bus system, providing better bus services across our cities. It is the largest investment in the bus system in the history of the State, and is managed by the National Transport Authority (NTA). In Dublin, the major infrastructure element of BusConnects comprises Core Bus Corridor schemes. To date,...