Results 2,081-2,100 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Bord na Móna (23 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: As Deputy Cowen knows, the midlands have historically been very important in Ireland's energy production. Bord na Móna was a large part of that, as was the ESB, and many people derived a living, an income and, later, a pension from Bord na Móna and the ESB. I know that is significant. The great efforts the Deputy went to secure just transition funding at the EU and national...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Prices (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I believe that the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications is representing his country at a meeting of European energy ministers. The war in Ukraine has resulted in an unprecedented rise in energy prices and is a major challenge for families and businesses throughout Ireland and across Europe. This huge increase in costs for consumers has caused real hardship for many...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Prices (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: My Department will bring before the Government proposals for a windfall tax to be approved by the Cabinet in the coming weeks. Primary legislation will be required to bring that through. The measure will impose taxes on unfair profits which were generated not just by people who own oil or gas reserves but anybody generating electricity from sources other than gas who unfairly profited from...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Prices (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I am as eager as the Deputy to see these reductions passed on and that is why we are legislating for unfair profits. I have met the ESB and Bord Gáis and my Department continues to meet them. I am sure the Minister does as well, although I have not spoken to him on it. We will be legislating for this in the coming weeks. The amount of money that is expected to be raised is between...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I also am happy to see climate protestors on the street. The voices of young people are often lost and what we hear instead are the reactionary forces against any climate actions we try to bring in. To see people cheering and going out to prove they care is motivating. Finalised emissions data for 2022 are not yet available but recent reports have indicated that Ireland’s...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: It takes all parties to solve this problem. This is not a partisan issue and it will not work if one party takes it one way. It does not work if parties condemn or denounce one another. It works if we can constructively work together. I am not long in politics but the Deputy knows that I am committed to climate action and that it is all I have thought about for most of the last 20 years....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The Deputy has every right to criticise me and to ask questions. That is part of our system, I welcome that and I am not being defensive but we need to work constructively together to solve these problems.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: What are we doing for climate action? We have four major areas: transport emissions; heating and building emissions; electricity emissions; and agriculture emissions. As the Deputy is aware, we are trying to revolutionise our transport system and we are trying to move people towards public transport. We are cutting public transport fares and we are spending €2 in public transport...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Infrastructure (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The microgeneration support scheme sets out the overall framework to support the growth of microgeneration in Ireland. The scheme targets 380 MW of new microgeneration capacity by 2030. This amounts to 60,000 homes and 9,000 non-domestic installations, such as small farms, businesses, schools and community groups, generating over 300 GWh of renewable electricity per annum, with the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Infrastructure (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The small-scale generation scheme will be launched later this year. The Deputy asked about legislation relating to private wire, which is to allow transmission of electricity by private sector companies without using EirGrid. I will have to come back to the Deputy with details rather than offer an answer now. There is massively increased ambition for solar roll-out. It is not just for...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Infrastructure (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I want as many people to have solar power as possible so that they are taking part and have a sense that they are contributing towards climate action and generating money. I want as many people as possible to take part in this. The Deputy is right to say that the deployment of solar generation is not entirely my responsibility. TAMS is a scheme of the Department of Agriculture, Food and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I do not think anybody should scare the farming community. It is important to stick to the facts on this but also to speak honestly to farmers. The Government recently approved the first phase of the land-use review. This phase was a substantial evidence-gathering exercise, required to deliver on a key commitment in the programme for Government. A comprehensive evidence base is essential...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The twin policy issues for agriculture are how we reduce emissions and sustain farming incomes at the same time. That is the challenge for our agricultural policy and where all our focus will be. The Deputy is right to say, and I am glad to hear him say, that farmers know there has to be change but that change has to be fair and it has to be explained. We should not do it without having...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: When the pandemic ended, I had a lot of opportunities to go round the country and speak to farmers. I took every opportunity I could to do that. What I took from farmers is that the drive for increased production has pushed down unit prices. It is more work for the same amount of money. Pushing up production has not worked. Fertiliser prices are a killer in that they are so high and are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Deputy Connolly for her very specific question for which I have a very specific answer. I spoke to the civil servant who issued the guidelines last Friday. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 strengthens the role of local authorities in climate action. The Act sets out a statutory requirement for each local authority to prepare a local authority...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: We can have all the strategies and plans in the world but they do not come to much if they are not implemented and if there is no political will. Those two ingredients are absolutely key to the difference between saying things and things actually happening. Do people want the things to happen and will they put in the work and the competence to make them happen? I have been on a local...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: She will know that there is sometimes a lot of discussions on local authorities which is not matched by action and that sometimes plans are brought forward which speak in very high terms and in noble ways about things but do not really translate into actions because the executive or the councillors themselves do not really want them to happen. For these plans to translate into actual climate...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: We absolutely should be fair to local authorities. I do not have information for Deputy Connolly on the timeline that led to the issuing of the guidelines from last Friday; what the statutory timeline was; and what it ought to have been but I am willing to talk to the Deputy about it afterwards, if she wants to find out more information. What I am referring to with regard to local...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authorities (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 strengthens the role of local authorities in climate action. The Act sets out a statutory requirement for each local authority to prepare a local authority climate action plan within 12 months from when the Minister issues a request to the sector to begin the preparation of such plans. The Minister issued this request last...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Local Authorities (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy. She has a specific question about whether a legal direction has yet been issued. I have to check that. I know that the guidelines were circulated last Friday but I do not know whether they constitute a legal direction. I believe she asked for some history of how these decarbonisation zones were developed. She wants to know why we are issuing these guidelines.