Results 14,661-14,680 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (13 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: As Minister for Transport I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. It is the National Transport Authority (NTA) which has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally. The NTA also has national responsibility for integrated local and rural transport, including management of the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Covid-19 Pandemic (13 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 251, 252, 258 and 259 together. Arrangements for the production and issue of the EU Digital Covid Certificates are being progressed by the Department of Health, the HSE and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer. Questions on these matters should be addressed to the relevant Minister.

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (13 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: As Minister for Transport I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. It is the National Transport Authority (NTA) which has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally. The NTA also has national responsibility for integrated local and rural transport, including management of the...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (13 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area, including the Luas to Finglas proposal. As the Deputy is probably aware, the current National Development...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (13 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area, including BusConnects, and is developing BusConnects programmes in other cities on a non-statutory basis. The NTA...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rights of People with Disabilities (13 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Action no. 100 in the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) is assigned to my Department, the National Transport Authority (NTA) and the public transport operators. As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. Under the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, the NTA has statutory responsibility for promoting the...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Senators very much. I am happy to continue the debate we had on Committee Stage. I will not be accepting the amendments. I reiterate a point I made on Committee Stage, which is that this Bill is designed to require the State to set out its internal processes and structures to deliver on our objectives under the UN Paris Agreement on climate. It is not going to resolve the...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: This is a significant issue. We lived up to our commitments in the programme for Government. We issued the policy statement that put a hold on the development of any LNG terminals pending an energy security review. That is the appropriate approach to take. I cannot accept these amendments. I do not believe they would be effective. They would need to be redrafted. It is difficult with...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: These amendments are tabled following reflection and further legal advice from the Attorney General's office and others in regard to the two amendments from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Senators, in particular Senator Paul Daly, that were agreed on Committee Stage. The amendments seek to ensure that we have the ability to account for removals and emissions reductions on sinks, and to give...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Senator Higgins asked a valid question on amendment No. 23, which proposes the insertion of a new subsection (5B): The Government may make regulations to specify the base year in relation to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for budget periods after 31 December 2030. This amendment has been introduced to recognise that the current Bill embodies the programme for Government...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: At the outset, I should state that I accept both the bona fides and the thrust of what the Opposition is looking to do. I accept it has come together on that. The argument is not that there are so many different definitions and so on. I will continue with the process we agreed on Committee Stage, which is to revert back to what we did in the 2015 Bill and not to provide this more specific...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I agree very much with Senator Higgins that it is in the detail that a just transition must be delivered with regard to jobs. I still say that these must be better jobs. However, it is not just about jobs. It is also about communities and whole sectors. It is about planning and looking to see where we will have difficulties so that we can start preparing in advance. It is also about...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Throughout this whole process, over several years, Government and Opposition have worked together, at joint committees and in the drafting and pre-legislative processes, and the Bill has been transformed through listening and accepting a large number of different changes. This included the insertion of a definition of "just transition", which was not, as mentioned earlier, in the original...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The issue of the definition of sustainable development goes back to the Brundtland report and the principle that we will not compromise the interests of those in the future with what we deliver today. The sustainable development goals within that have been hugely significant. With regard to the Rio agreement, the Johannesburg agreement and New York in 2015, they were taken as an overarching...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The Bill states in various sections that we have to take into account public health, employment and social objectives and so there is integration. It sets out the requirement for a climate plan, which is the centre of what we are doing, and for a climate strategy to have a social, health and economic perspective. It is in those provisions the approach that is set out within the sustainable...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I can give the Senator a complete reassurance that her issue with the baseline relates only to how it is worded. It is intended as something that will be considered after 31 December 2030. The 2018 baseline would become less relevant in that context because we would have met it. That is the reason I have brought the-----

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: A future government may examine the matter and set a baseline to help to guide the Climate Change Advisory Council, but that would be after the fact. There will not be any weakening or watering down. The overall objective is still the same - it has to be net zero by 2050. This measure will give future governments the ability, should they want to do so, to set further baseline targets in...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: It will not be the market deciding this, it will be a land use strategy within the programme for Government. The key commitment here relates to a review of land use with a view to then setting out a policy that optimises rural development, storage of carbon, protection of biodiversity, an improvement in water quality and a reduction in ammonia and nitrogen pollution. That then frames any...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I cannot accept the amendment. I read the judgment, which was very interesting. As I recall, the issue regarding the role of the Government was not presented as one of the main arguments in the appellant's original presentation. The judge drew it out in his judgment. The judgment relates to the 2015 Act, which is being fundamentally changed and altered by this Bill. As Senator Higgins...

Seanad: Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The amendment was introduced, as it states, for "the avoidance of doubt" because it was never intended or expected that we would, in a sense, set up a justiciability whereby in the case of an individual action, such as an investment decision having been made for a power plan or transport project, the remedy would be financial liability in respect of that act. The provision is fully...