Results 2,121-2,140 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: In this situation, the road has been connected but their house was built since the line was put in. A survey has to be carried out before the house can be connected. The constituent is frustrated by the length of time that it is taking. That is why I am going to work with NBI to agree on a procedure. At the moment, that person is not guaranteed to get broadband within months. Under the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The question is on the roll-out of offshore wind turbines. Seven projects have been granted licences and are being fast-tracked under the old system. A new renewable option will be run for the next phase of projects. The projects will be will be plan led rather than developer led and concentrated in certain areas. The point of this is to speed up the development of offshore wind energy...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Offshore wind energy is a large part of the decarbonisation process and is absolutely critical. There has been no policy change. Floating wind turbines will be pursued off the west coast because the water is too deep to support fixed-base wind farms. Those of the east and south coasts, in shallower waters, will be progressed first but there has been no change. If anything, the pace has...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: We are supporting both floating and fixed turbines and there has been no policy change.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (2 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The key objective of the inflation-supply chain delay co-operation framework introduced in May 2022 is to safeguard public projects that were already under construction or tendered in advance of the exceptional inflation in the price of construction materials, fuel and electricity since the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While there is evidence to suggest the rate of inflation has...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (2 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy for acknowledging the framework was the right thing to do. We were in a situation where builders or construction firms were unlikely to be able to complete projects because they were no longer able to complete them for the amount of money that had been contracted, as the increase in inflation had not been foreseen. This would have left us in a position where we would have...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Procurement Contracts (2 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: It is a fair question. Individual Departments are allocated money at budget time. They are given the independence to spend that money with the oversight of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. It monitors their expenditure, audits them and then produces a report on each Department. The relevant committees of the Oireachtas can then bring the Accounting Officers before them...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Construction Industry (2 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The latest version of the national development plan, NDP, capital investment tracker provides updates on over 270 projects and 140 programmes, including almost 100 projects costing in excess of €50 million. Driving productivity and increasing innovation in construction sector capacity is imperative to the Government to deliver on the projects outlined in the NDP. The construction...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Construction Industry (2 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I know that progress is being made but there are two sides to it. There is a commercial imperative to do this for reasons of efficiency and progress in technology. The Government also has to provide support through educational schemes, as we have laid out, and bring the different partners together. Ireland is famous for its construction. We have built a lot of major projects abroad over...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Construction Industry (2 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I agree with everything the Deputy has said. We can look at other countries and recognise that in some cases they are more advanced in their construction methods than we are. That is not only true in Europe but also in Asia. I have spoken to people in China responsible for social housing delivery and so on through off-site construction. Part of what is happening now is that because the...

Seanad: Project Ireland 2040: Statements (1 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank all Senators for their contributions and their ongoing engagement on the national development plan today. Some important issues were raised and I welcome the opportunity to clarify and elaborate on them. As stated earlier, my Department has been renamed to give an additional focus to the delivery of the NDP and to assist Departments in delivering on their much-needed priority...

Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (7 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: He is going to.

Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (7 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Is he your favourite?

Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (7 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: It is working fine.

Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (7 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: We will know if it is broken.

Protection of Cash as Legal Tender: Motion [Private Members] (8 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this important and interesting proposal on the protection of cash in the financial system. I listened to the contributions which were interesting. The Deputies were thinking about people being excluded from the financial system and people who do not have access to cash and where the only option is to make an electronic payment and for one reason or...

Seanad: Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (9 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Acting Chair and Senators for the opportunity to present the Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023, which I am grateful to introduce to Seanad Éireann. Although many Senators will be familiar with the exceptional energy security challenges that face us, as the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy...

Seanad: Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (9 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Senators for their contributions. I will go through them, beginning with that of Senator Pauline O'Reilly. She and Senator Dooley both pointed out that the long-term solution here is more renewables. However, when there is a short-term problem, you do what needs to be done to keep the lights on. Senator Dooley spoke about what went wrong with the 2019 procurement. Regretting the...

Seanad: Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (9 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senator. I have heard from EirGrid and the CRU, which are answerable to the environment committee the Senator sits on, that large energy users and data centres will be the first to have their power turned off in the event of an electricity shortage. That is right and it is why they are being required under the new guidelines to provide 100% backup of their systems. As the...

Seanad: Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: We are discussing an amendment but we have had a general discussion. I thank Senator McDowell for speaking so-----