Results 1,101-1,120 of 27,055 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Policy (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Irish Environmental Network (IEN) is an independent organisation whose membership includes 30 Irish environmental NGOs that work at the national level to support a range of climate and environmental initiatives across Ireland. The IEN submit a formal application for grant assistance on an annual basis. The following funding has been provided to the IEN since 2020: 2020 ...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Schemes (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Excellence in Energy Efficient Design (EXEED) programme supports high impact investments, where an energy efficient design (EED) process is followed to design out energy consumption and develop high performance projects. The EXEED programme was relaunched in March 2023 to provide projects with increased support to a maximum of €3 million and an improved application process. It is...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Schemes (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: In Budget 2025, EXEED was assigned €3 million in Exchequer funding. €2.6 million was capital funding and €400,000 was for current expenditure. If the funding for EXEED was to be doubled for both capital and current expenditure, it would amount to €6 million in total.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Schemes (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 64 and 65 together. The primary objective of the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) is to contribute to meeting Ireland’s renewable energy targets, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The scheme was developed to incentivise the delivery of an additional 3% of heat use in Ireland from renewable sources, and offers financial support for...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Illegal Dumping (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the Waste Management Act, the primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to illegal dumping lies with the local authorities. It is a matter for each local authority to determine the most appropriate awareness, enforcement, clean-up and disposal actions in relation to illegal dumping, taking account of local circumstances and priorities. The Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Policy (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 70 and 86 together. The breakdown of the budget allocations for each Programme under the Subhead B04 – Residential/Community Retrofit Programmes, provided for in the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) for each of the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, are set out in the table below. While a Further Revised Estimates Volume (FREV) was published in May 2024...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Policy (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Microgeneration Support Scheme (MSS) was approved by Government on 21 December 2021, to support Ireland’s ambitious targets for micro-generation installations, under the Climate Action Plan 21. The MSS provides supports to both domestic and non-domestic applicants, in the form of grants for Solar PV installations, which are available through the Sustainable Energy Authority of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Under the Programme for Government, Government reaffirmed the target of increasing renewable generation to supply 80% of our electricity demand and to continue the annual Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) auction programme to underpin this. The RESS auctions provide pathways for renewable developers to plan and develop their projects, with supported technologies including, but...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) supports delivery of our Climate Action Plan target of meeting 80% of electricity demand from renewable energy sources by 2030. In 2023, my Department staged our first offshore wind auction under the RESS, known as ORESS 1. Of the six participants in the auction, four projects were successful and were awarded supports under the RESS. These...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Policy (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 76, 83 and 84 together. The Communities Energy Grant (CEG) Scheme is part of the Government's National Retrofit Programme. The primary objective of the scheme is to support and maximise the number of home energy upgrades delivered. Non-domestic projects are also supported to encourage broader community engagement and mobilisation. Other objectives include:...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Policy (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Programme for Government commits to promoting the Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) to simplify market access for community owned solar and wind projects. The deployment of rooftop and ground-based solar PV ensures that a greater share of our electricity needs is met through solar power. The Renewable Energy Support Scheme (RESS) Community Enabling Framework...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Schemes (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Warmer Homes Scheme aims to improve the energy efficiency and warmth of homes owned by people in 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. The scheme has been delivering a greater...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Network (28 May 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 issue raised by the Deputy is an operational matter for Irish Rail, in conjunction with the National Transport Authority (NTA). Therefore, I have referred the Deputy's question to Irish Rail and...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Airport Policy (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I understand that the Dublin Airport Environmental Working Group met with daa in February 2025 and while the Group has not contacted my office directly I can provide the following update in relation to PFAS at Dublin Airport.  Legacy PFAS contamination has been identified at Dublin Airport, primarily due to the historic use of AFFF firefighting foam.  Since 2013, the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Active Travel (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As part of Regulation (EU) 2023/955, which provides for the establishment of a Social Climate Fund, all EU Member States are required to prepare a Social Climate Plan. These Plans will set out the programmes in the period 2026-2032 that are aimed at addressing the social and distributional effects of fossil fuel price increases. The Department of Environment, Climate and...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Network (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As the Deputy may be aware, as Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure, including the development of the Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area. The Transport Strategy for the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Development (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets (DMURS) was jointly launched by the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Minister for Housing and Planning in 2013. A revision to DMURS, which was issued in August 2019, was overseen by a Steering Committee that included representatives from Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG), Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Urban Development (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993. Works on those roads are funded from Councils' own resources supplemented by State road grants. Arising from the arrangements in place in relation to Local Property Tax receipts, the four Dublin Councils...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Qualifications Recognition (28 May 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department has not conducted any audits or received any reports of unqualified or inadequately certified personnel performing the work referred to by the Deputy. Regarding the parts of the question that relate to bodies under the aegis of my Department, my Department will request the relevant bodies reply directly to the Deputy with the information requested. If you do not receive a...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (28 May 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...