Results 21,841-21,860 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: In cases where apartment blocks or groups of buildings are supplied with heat, rather than fuel, it is the heat supplier that is the purchaser of the gas and, therefore due to the scale of the gas purchase, a commercial tariff is applied. Gas and electricity retail markets in Ireland operate within a European regulatory regime wherein electricity and gas markets are commercial,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Conservation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme delivers free energy upgrades for eligible homeowners that are most at risk of energy poverty. The scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and since 2000, over 145,000 free upgrades have been supported. The budget allocation of €109 million for the scheme this year has led to a doubling of the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Exploration Industry (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The application referred to in the Question is under consideration by my Department. Any applications for follow-on petroleum authorisations require Ministerial consent and are assessed against a number of criteria in accordance with Section 9A of the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, 1960 and Section 3 of the 2007 Licensing Terms for Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Development...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Conservation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Programme for Government and Climate Action Plan set ambitious targets to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2/cost optimal level and the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes by end-2030. This represents approximately 30% of the housing stock and is among the most ambitious retrofit programmes worldwide. Recognising that the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Staff (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Under Ag Obair Le Chéile – a comprehensive action plan for 2022 arising from my Department's Statement of Strategy Le Chéile 23 – DECC is committed to developing its' organisational capacity and investing in staff to ensure they are equipped to meet future challenges. Embracing and implementing a Blended Working policy is part of my Department's key...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Climate Action Plan 2021 included a commitment to introduce a Microgeneration Support Scheme (MSS). The phased introduction of the MSS has begun with the commencement of the MSS domestic solar PV grant on 16 February last, with grant levels up to a maximum of €2,400 available through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The design of the MSS is technology neutral...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Water Charges (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I refer to the reply to Question No 60 of 9 September 2021.The position is unchanged.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: My Department has developed a number of schemes to support production of renewable electricity in Ireland. These schemes include the grid scale, auction based Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) and the Microgeneration Support Scheme (MSS), for installations up to 50 kW in size (30kWe for micro-renewable Combined Heat and Power). The RESS and MSS schemes both...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: My Department funds a number of grant schemes to support homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their existing properties. The schemes offer grants for individuals who can afford to contribute to the cost of upgrades as well as free energy upgrades for people at risk of energy poverty. Improving these homes has resulted in warmer, healthier and more comfortable homes that are...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) who administer Solar PV grants under the Microgeneration Support Scheme (MSS), undertook an assessment of continuing the previous battery grants under the MSS and found that with the current high cost of batteries, coupled with their low storage capabilities of only a few hours and their relatively short lifetime (currently in the region of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Conservation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme delivers free energy upgrades for eligible homeowners in low-income households who are most at risk of energy poverty. It is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Since the start of the scheme in 2000, over 145,000 free upgrades have been supported by the scheme.As Minister I have no function with regard to individual...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The 2021 Climate Action Plan (CAP21) committed to reducing emissions from the residential sector to between 3.5 - 4.5 Mt CO2eq. by 2030, from 7 Mt in 2018. As part of the achievement of this reduction, the CAP set ambitious targets to install 600,000 heat pumps in homes by 2030, of which 400,000 will be in existing homes. The Government recently announced a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Schemes (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Earlier this year, Government announced an enhanced package of measures to support the uptake of home energy upgrades. This included a new National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme providing increased grant levels of up to 50% of the cost of a typical deep retrofit to a B2 BER standard and establishment of a network of registered One Stop Shops to offer a start-to-finish project management...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Prices (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 to 106, inclusive, together. The increase in international wholesale gas prices has continued to be driven to unprecedentedly high levels by the volatility in the international gas market caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As set out in the National Energy Security Framework (NESF), the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment is...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Generation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Commission of Regulation of Utilities, which has a statutory responsibility to ensure security of supply, currently has a programme of actions underway to ensure the security of our electricity supply over the coming winters. The Security of Supply Programme of Actions, published in September 2021, contains a number of both demand-side and supply-side mitigation measures to address the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Infrastructure (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Energy storage encompasses a broad range of technologies with distinct characteristics and capabilities, including speed of response and storage capacity, that provide a variety of critical services to the all-island power system. Maintaining security of supply while integrating greater levels of renewable generation will require a very high penetration of variable electricity on the Irish...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Generation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: There is currently only one offshore wind farm operating in Ireland, Arklow Bank and it has an installed capacity of 25.2 MW. As a result, the contribution of offshore wind is currently relatively small and is reported together with the onshore wind figures. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland reports annually on total electricity generated and electricity generated by wind in its...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Generation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Climate Action Plan 2021 and annex of actions sets out a roadmap to deliver on Ireland's target of a 51% greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2030 including a suite of measures and actions to increase the share of electricity demand generated from renewable sources to up to 80%. In 2022, my Department will continue to drive the delivery of renewable energy sources in line with our...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: To facilitate switching to renewable energy sources I brought forward the final design of the Micro-Generation Support Scheme (MSS) which was approved by the Government in December 2021. The MSS is targeting support for 380MW of installed micro-generation capacity, to contribute to the revised target of up to 5.5GW of solar renewables under the Climate Action Plan and the recent Government...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Public Sector Pensions (14 Sep 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I received a recommendation from my officials on 1 September and granted my consent on 2 September to the payment of an increase of 2% to An Post pensioners with effect from 1 January 2022. The consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for the proposal was subsequently provided on 7 September. An Post has been made aware of this and has communicated with the Group...