Results 861-880 of 27,055 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (11 Jun 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: Public Transport (11 Jun 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 responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services provided under public service obligation (PSO) contracts....

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (11 Jun 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 the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services provided under public service obligation (PSO)...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Procurement within the Department of Transport, is conducted in accordance with applicable EU and national regulations and Office of Government Procurement (OGP) guidance. Government accounting procedures do not require reporting on framework-based procurement in annual Appropriation Accounts. However, procurement in my Department is subject to scrutiny by the Department's Internal Audit...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) publishes details of contracts awarded from OGP standalone and for mini-competitions on the gov.ie website at this location: www.gov.ie/en/office-of-government-procurement/collections/c ontract-awards-for-standalone-and-mini-competitions/. My Department cannot provide contracts awarded for the provision of goods/services, as they are commercially...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 65 and 66 together. I propose to respond to PQ 31019/25 and PQ 31020/25 together. My Department does not hold any independent Frameworks for the procurement of goods or services. My Department does not hold information on the overall value of Frameworks established by the OGP for the past 3 years.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department does not hold any current framework agreements however it is my Department's policy to use Office of Government Procurement (OGP) Frameworks where they are available and suitable to the requirement for the provision of goods/services. In compliance with Circular 9/24 my Department is currently engaged in a review of its use of OGP Frameworks and will be reporting on same in...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Development Plan (11 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding across the Department’s remit. 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 operation and management of individual national roads is a matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Capital Expenditure Programme (11 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Please see below table showing the capital funding that was not spent in 2022, 2023 and 2024: It is highly unlikely that payments made in respect of all projects will be exactly equal to the quantum of the available funding in any given calendar year. While the vast majority of available funding in a calendar year is expended in that year, some payments can fall into the following calendar...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (11 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The 2025 Electric Small Public Service Vehicle Grant Scheme (eSPSV25), supports the uptake of EVs in the small public service vehicles sector and has a budget of €12.5m in 2025. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has temporarily paused the scheme to review and process the eligible applications received. Following assessment and draw down from the initial round of applications,...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Departmental Staff (11 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The number of retired officials re-engaged by my Department on a consultancy basis over the past four years are outlined in tabular form: Year Number of Retired staff engaged Reason Cost 2021 3 Interview Board €1,650 1 Legislative drafting €8,091 ...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I will be really quick because I will supply the Deputy with the written answer, but I should have said earlier that I have tasked the SEAI with looking at options with its grants. I do not mean increasing the amount of grants but seeing how we can break them down and make them more accessible. I am also doing that with electric vehicles and looking at options for low- to middle-income...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Policy (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: There is no clear preference for data centres over anything else. That is just not correct. Our priorities are for the delivery of housing and additional water infrastructure, investing in our energy grid and supporting indigenous jobs and investment and FDI. This is a red herring, trying to bring forward the narrative that we are not connecting houses to the grid because we are connecting...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Policy (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: There is still significant potential in onshore renewables. I mentioned the auction later this year, RESS 5, which I believe will be heavily subscribed. These projects already have connection agreements and planning permission. There has already been significant growth there. We want to see construction in our offshore renewable projects in the next couple of years. I am just being...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Policy (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The plan will be cognisant of what energy capacity we have. That is across the board. I do not give the connection agreements. They are done independently. The Deputy will know that some data centres have not been given connection agreements. It has already happened where it is not deemed appropriate. We need to plan for the future too. That is why I mentioned 2030 and that life exists...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Policy (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: We are not going to annihilate our climate targets. This Government is as committed as the previous Government was to the energy transition, reducing emissions and working as hard as we can to achieve the targets that have been set. On the expansion of renewable energy, 40% of all our energy last year was generated through renewables. We have made incredible progress in that regard, not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Policy (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: There is no dispute within my Department and the Secretary General is a very committed public servant who I work with extremely well. We are all in agreement that we need to expand our energy generation through renewables, which we are doing, and improve our grid resilience and the capacity of our grid across the country. This is what we will be doing to ensure that we can meet not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Infrastructure (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The project should have been delivered by 2030 and now it will not be. The revised date is 2031. We need the interconnector. Work has started in the North subject to challenge there too. Work should start in the South too. There are lessons to be learned. Engagement in some areas has been difficult. I am not going to apportion blame on either side. I have been in the Oireachtas since...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Infrastructure (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: This is a critical piece of infrastructure for the island. It has gone on for far too long. I remember this as well going way back to 2005. I remember protests in north Dublin about undergrounding coming from Wales into Rush and discussions and arguments around electromagnetic fields. I respect Deputy Carthy's point of view but he did not mention that there are many residents and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Infrastructure (10 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Could the Deputy let me answer? There are many residents who have consented. There is a need for further engagement but the reality is that if we go back through a planning process again, we would be talking about 2040. What will have happened then is that we will have less ability to bring more renewables on to our grid and will not have reduced costs for consumers North and South so we...