Results 20,241-20,260 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: 242. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the amount collected in passport application fees in the past ten years to date; and the breakdown of the fees collected in respect of first-time applications, renewals, emergency passports and so on over the same time period. [15729/22]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Passport Services (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: 243. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will reduce the price of a passport in the context of the impact of inflation across other aspects of the cost of living. [15730/22]

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The witnesses are very welcome. The Chair has already outlined that we have a short time in which to put questions and get responses, so I will try to bear that in mind. The staff complement in 2020 was 93, which was up two from 2019, when it was 91. What is the current staff complement? What are the positions SEAI is funded to fill?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Whatever we spend, we have to spend it wisely, but we really do need to spend at scale given the challenge in front of us. I presume we will see the roll-out of the one-stop shops and all of that. Will that be this year?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Is there a sufficient number of staff to deal with the plans?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: So it will be ongoing. Obviously, this will be dependent on having contractors registered. What kinds of numbers is SEAI at at this stage?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Mr. Walsh said SEAI does modelling. Obviously, it will be advising the Government on public policy. The kind of stock local authorities will be retrofitting will include old local authority houses from the 1950s with two or three bedrooms. What is the cost of a deep retrofit of a house fitting that profile?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Local authorities have been allocated €27,000 to retrofit individual homes. They do not have another income. Would that be sufficient to carry out a retrofit? I know there can be economies of scale but is that sufficient?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Dr. Byrne might give us some figures on that modelling afterwards, if he has them. I was intrigued about the SEAI's move. Obviously the Office of Public Works, OPW, take its instructions from it about what it requires. Emissions from its previous building were 77,000 kg of CO2 and then 135,000 kg in 2020 in the new building. Why did SEAI make that move? Was this considered given that...

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: What instructions did SEAI give around energy use when the building was being secured?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Okay. And what was SEAI's rent in the previous building in 2019? What is it today? It is rented rather than purchased, is it?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Did SEAI consider any other options beyond that joint move? Was anything else on the table in terms of value for money? Why was this considered the best option?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: IDA Ireland has an expertise in industrial development. Does it really have an expertise in property management?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Okay. I wish to move to another issue. Value for money will be really important as we need to stretch the money as far as possible. I have the list of grants for electric vehicles and some of the models. Will the SEAI start by confirming that they are grant-aided because I know there are parameters? You can pick very high-end models such as a BMW X5. It retails at €83,000. Is...

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: What happens when a manufacturer produces a car above the range? No grant applies to that at all?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Therefore there is a threshold at the bottom and at the top.

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Is there is no restriction? If someone wanted to buy a new car every six months would that person be grant-aided every time or every year? The grant does not go with the individual, it goes with the car.

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: The ambition around electric vehicles is very big. Where are we? What does it need to be, year on year?

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: Could Mr. Meally just send the committee the projections on that so that we can take a look at it? I think some of it may be in the briefing document anyway. I am noticing my time and I want to ask a final question. Regardless of how many houses we retrofit, and I hope we can do that to a very significant scale, it will not matter if we do not have the electricity that is generated from...

Public Accounts Committee: Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020 (24 Mar 2022)

Catherine Murphy: I will ask Mr. Walsh a very practical question. Do we manufacture the columns that go out? Are we required to do that to meet our targets? Are very obvious practical things not being done?