Results 23,541-23,560 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Am I entitled to make my point?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I met the university representatives recently and said they have an obligation to help deliver, with the council, the connection of the three universities in Limerick through a high-quality bus corridor and cycling infrastructure. Those, rather than the northern distributor road, will be to the benefit of the colleges and the city of Limerick.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I was backed up by the professional advice of TII, which is the body responsible for developing road infrastructure. If I recall rightly, it described the proposal as a mad proposal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Bearing in mind the scale of change to be made in transport, I agree with the assessment of the OECD, an independent international expert, on the direction we are taking in this country and the need for what it called a systemic change towards a much more sustainable transport model. I believe its analysis is correct. The northern distributor road would have been a continuation of a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: We will be making the allocation as set out in the national development plan. Vital expenditure on roads will continue. We are in the middle of discussions as part of the climate action plan. The transport section of this presents the biggest challenge. We need to halve our emissions this decade and get to net zero in three decades.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: First and foremost, I need to get agreement on our climate action approach, and that will frame what we do on road investment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The decisions on that are contingent on what we decide regarding the climate action plan.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The vast majority of projects in the road programme will continue. Projects already in construction and with planning permission have to proceed. The exact allocation of TII within its budget is agreed and our overall approach is agreed. I believe it is important for us to reflect at this critical moment, as we agree a climate action plan which requires change beyond a scale that anyone can...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: As I said, we will of course make sure we work with the local authorities but we also need change coming up from the bottom around the country. We cannot ignore climate change.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: We cannot ignore the change that is needed. We cannot just keep on going with business as usual and pretend nothing is happening, when transport emissions are likely to increase this year by a double-digit figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: No, we will not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The OECD report is right. We need system change, not just staying the way it always was.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I think it will be possible to deliver. There is complexity because it involves eight private contracts with PPP arrangements but I expect we will be able to deliver that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Any of the discussions I have had with other governments, including the US Government and others, were not in the public sessions. However, there was a recognition that such is the urgency around the need to take climate action that I would not rule it out. At least to have a system that is truly global means that comparative competitive disadvantages would not start to arise. I think it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that the Department last year provided funding of €200,000 for further research into the development of sustainable aviation fuels. My understanding of how this will work in Europe is that there will be flexibility at first. It will not be the same for every airport, airline and country and it will be possible for airlines to purchase fuels...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: In the short run, in the next decade, as I said, it is likely to be the use of waste oils, waste materials, food and other materials. There are issues around that and, globally, there have been real issues about land-use implications and how we can verify and be certain that waste cooking oil is not coming from a palm oil plantation. Nonetheless, that is likely to be the first step. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The timeline for the development of our own hydrogen supplies is the end of this decade, but scaling up in the following decade. One of the real questions we have is, where is it likely to be applied? First, it will be in large industrial use, and probably transport next. That is why I keep going back to the Shannon Estuary and Cork Harbour being the potential sites because what we would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Yes. That is the first, more immediate step. In effect, it is the use of waste materials for blended biofuels.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Not in our use of ETS. Some governments in Europe might do that, but no.