Results 21,781-21,800 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: It is very important that we maintain energy co-operation between the UK and Europe. We are the island behind the island, as it were. We will have connection with the French market. We were in a Russian energy gas crisis before - nowhere near as bad as this one - in 2008. The European markets are much more fungible and connected this time. That serves our purposes. It is important that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The strategy on combating energy poverty did not conclude in 2019. It is being continuously implemented, and we now have a progress review and public consultation in place. We will get that delivered in time to influence budget decision-making, which will be the critical part. It involves three very significant tranches where we increase not just the fuel allowance but another mix of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I do not know what the Minister of State said here, but if the local authority has not passed that on, will the Deputy provide evidence or an example, because that should be done or efforts should be made to ensure they are eligible and get the payment? It is a universal payment and, as the Deputy says, those most at risk this winter are those in less well-insulated dwellings. Caravans...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: You do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: They are the sort of customers we must target. On demand reduction, I have not yet received anything from Gas Networks Ireland or the CRU about our planned involvement in the 15% demand reduction but as soon I have anything, I will share it with the committee and put it out there. There has been considerable muddying of the waters. This goes back to what the Chairman said about equating...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: One of the benefits, which will only shade a certain percentage of the increase, is the fact that our PSO is becoming negative. A direct credit of €80 or €90 is going back into every bill. As Senator Boylan noted, this means we are heading towards a negative PSO and are actually saving householders money because of the presence of renewables. However, this will not cushion...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Such is the price increase that it will take hold in respect of a range of businesses that previously would not have seen their energy bill as the real determining factor, for example, a business that has a large number of refrigeration or heating facilities. In discussions with the Taoiseach and others yesterday, I used the example of a small shop that might have difficulties because it has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: That is one of the issues our emergency strategy group is looking at with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. We do have to look at that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: What I have seen in south Dublin, and it is a good example, is the waste heat from a data centre being used to heat the local hospital, local university and local council offices. Going back to what I said earlier about the obligation on large energy users to be part of the solution, I believe it is possible for us to develop solutions where we both have economic development and low-carbon,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: It is hard for the CRU or EirGrid to get down to the level of looking into what is in the file. I know, however, that we had a meeting, I think last week, where EirGrid discussed some of these issues and the example of having data centres which could possibly turn on or off in complement of renewable power. For example, over a large wide regional area, we might look to complement the use...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: We will be there looking for support and for decoupling. Whatever decisions we make in regard to the exact mechanisms for doing that must allow us meet our immediate needs in terms of getting energy security for the Irish people, because as I heard EirGrid and the CRU rightly say today, our sole focus must be to deliver the backup generation capacity we need. Fundamentally, however, there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Senator is right. Her concerns have been heightened this year because of an Italian decision, of which she is fully aware, regarding compensation being provided to a UK operator that bought an interest in that. I do not believe the same circumstances apply in the Irish context. The difficulty in the Energy Charter Treaty, as the Senator knows, is that there is a 20-year period within...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The critical thing is to work with our European colleagues because the strength of 27 in terms of managing the likes of the Energy Charter Treaty gives much greater negotiation power and effective ability to make a change. If we just do it on our own, then we are not going to change the treaty easily, but working with our European colleagues, we can.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: As I have said, the focus here has been on supply issues and the very real issues in respect of generation capacity, our auction system and so on. However, we could not meet here today without recognising that the challenge facing our people, a challenge which is absolutely beyond compare, is the high price of energy. That is separate and unrelated. It is related to the war in Ukraine....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Even in a crisis, you try to do what you said you would. What we have heard here today is important. We will talk to every operator, including the operators of that 500 MW of demand-response capacity, to see if we can manage and be flexible, which is also part of delivering the 15% reduction. Everyone has to be involved in this because those businesses and many others are going to have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: No. That is because they were agreed prior to the summer of 2020.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: They were agreed prior to the summer of 2020. I am not responsible for what went on in previous years but over the years, as a country, we have made it a principle not to change tack or say one thing one day and another thing the next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: It is important that we do that. In a republic, the same rules need to apply to citizens, people in the most dire circumstances and corporations. We deliver what we say we will deliver. What we need to deliver now is the 2 GW of gas capacity to keep the lights on. That is absolutely essential. We need to work together to do that. We are not there yet. We are in the middle of this; we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The budget will be a key element in a significant suite of further supports in addition to the €2 billion of public money we have already spent in the last year. We need to go further. We will work with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Finance to try to do that to the best of our ability. We are also helping people by showing them how they can...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Energy Supply and Security: Discussion (30 Aug 2022)

Eamon Ryan: With the scale of price increases, the public is rightly going to want good advice and the ability to deliver. That is the key way.