Results 481-500 of 28,135 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Policy (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government has made a number of important commitments in respect of addressing the continued high cost of energy. The Programme for Government acknowledges the increased energy cost pressures on households and businesses and commits to bringing forward measures to contain energy costs and tackle energy poverty. Government has introduced a suite of measures over recent years to help...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Conservation (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Warmer Homes Scheme aims to improve the energy efficiency and warmth of homes owned by people at risk of energy poverty by providing fully funded retrofits. The scheme is operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department and is funded through carbon tax receipts and the European Regional Development Fund. Last year saw a record spend of almost...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Renewable Energy Generation (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Government has committed to the ambitious delivery of indigenously produced biomethane by 2030. In response to this ambitious target, my Department, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, published the National Biomethane Strategy in May 2024. Implementation of the National Biomethane Strategy is an on-going process of collaboration across key Government...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Renewable Energy Generation (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy is a vital policy support for the development of renewable electricity to enable Ireland to reach energy and climate targets. Under the PSO, over 4.6 GW of renewable generation is supported through the REFIT and RESS schemes. The PSO is set annually by the CRU to recover or return electricity consumers funds associated with renewable supports. It...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Infrastructure (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Following Storm Éowyn, I asked ESB Networks (ESB-N) to prepare as a priority a Winter 2025 Resilience Plan to enhance the resilience of the grid in the most vulnerable locations for the upcoming winter. This has been progressing since April and the actions include:-ESB-N has made hazards safe and progressed remedial works needed to refurbish the network.ESB-N continues to work with...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Sustainable Energy Communities (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: District heating is a proven technology that can decarbonise the built environment, diversify fuel sources for heat, and improve quality of life. The National Heat Study, produced by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), highlighted significant potential for heat in buildings to be supplied by district heating, particularly in urban areas where demand is concentrated, and heat...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Renewable Energy Generation (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Government has committed to the ambitious delivery of indigenously produced biomethane by 2030. In response to this commitment, my Department, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, published the National Biomethane Strategy in May 2024. Implementation of this strategy is an on-going process of collaboration across key Government Departments and Agencies....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Infrastructure (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 107, 108, 109, 114, 116, 130 and 143 together. Following Storm Éowyn, I asked ESB Networks (ESB-N) to prepare as a priority a Winter 2025 Resilience Plan to enhance the resilience of the grid in the most vulnerable locations for the upcoming winter. This has been progressing since April and the actions include:-ESB-N has made hazards safe and...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme, which launched in April 2024, is intended to play a crucial role in helping homeowners invest in energy upgrades to make their homes warmer, healthier and more comfortable, with lower emissions and lower bills. It was developed by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Finance, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), the...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Environmental Policy (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) most recent Quarterly Greenhouse Gas Emissions Indicator Report for Quarter 1 2025 shows that emissions rose by 2.9% compared to the same period in 2024. This increase can largely be attributed to higher fertiliser sales, due to delayed purchases in 2024 following adverse weather, and a 3.3% rise in electricity supply. Quarterly data can...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Policy (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 112, 125, 127 and 155 together. In June 2025, my Department established the National Energy Affordability Taskforce as a cross governmental body to identify, assess and implement measures that will enhance energy affordability for households and businesses while delivering key renewable commitments and protecting security of supply and economic stability. ...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Recycling Policy (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: In 2023, the most recent year for which EPA statistics are available, Ireland recycled 30% of plastic packaging waste. This exceeds the target of 22.5% but stricter targets of 50% and 55%, for 2025 and 2030 respectively will be more challenging. These figures are in respect of all plastics including PET. The EU list of waste codes does not isolate individual polymers. Given the volume and...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Closed-Circuit Television Systems (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The legislation allowing for the installation and usage of CCTV for litter and waste enforcement purposes required that the Local Government Management Agency submit to the Minister for approval, separate Codes of Practice for the operation of CCTV schemes under the Litter Pollution Act and the Waste Management Act and a further Code of Practice for the use of "mobile recording devices" (e.g....

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Climate Change Policy (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The provision of supports for community efforts to address climate change is a priority for me and there are a number of ways that specific positions are financially supported by programmes under my remit. Firstly, the Climate Action Fund supports the provision of Community Climate Action Officers (CCAOs) in each local authority through Strand 1 of the Community Climate Action Programme...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (18 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, through grants for the fabric upgrade of buildings, as well as solar PV and heat pump installation. Overall, since 2020, the SEAI schemes provided €1.38 billion support to homeowners for 198,714...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Departmental Schemes (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Warmer Homes Scheme aims to improve the energy efficiency and warmth of homes owned by people at risk of energy poverty by providing fully-funded retrofits. The scheme is operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department and is funded through the carbon tax receipts and the European Regional Development Fund. Last year saw a record spend of...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Policy (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Effective ways of defining, measuring and tracking energy poverty are essential for designing sound policy responses. Chapter 3 of the Energy Poverty Action Plan sets out the challenges in doing this. Currently, the measurement of energy poverty in Ireland used by the ESRI is based on the level of expenditure on energy in a household. Households spending above 10% of total income on their...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Air Quality (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The national air quality monitoring network is operated, maintained and monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (AAMP) which is funded by my Department. A significant upgrade to the AAMP network was undertaken in recent years, also funded by my Department. As a consequence, the number of monitoring stations has increased...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Usage (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The CRU published a Large Energy Users Connection Policy Proposed Decision Paper which considered the impact of future LEU connections on both national carbon emissions and the capacity of our energy and grid infrastructure. CRU are in the process of analysing the extensive feedback received as part of the consultation, highlighting the complexity of these and the balance of priorities facing...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Electricity Generation (18 Sep 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The progression of private wires was included in the Programme for Government 2025 as a priority for this Government. Following the Cabinet approval of the Private Wires Policy Statement on the 15 July 2025, engagement with key stakeholders has commenced and is ongoing. Furthermore, work on drafting the necessary legislation has commenced in my Department with the intention to bring the...