Results 2,341-2,360 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy. His first question was about CIRCULÉIRE, which is up and running already, as the Deputy knows. It has approximately 50 members. Its turnover is €1.5 million per year. We are analysing its proposal and I expect that we will have a decision on it by the end of the year but then it will take some time to ramp up. CIRCULÉIRE wants to increase its...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The reason for it is that we should make coffee cheaper. A coffee cup costs up to 24 cent, even without any taxes on it, and the consumer pays for that. The Deputy knows that. He is smart enough to know that the cup is not really free.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Yes, absolutely. It is a huge cost. There is also a storage cost for businesses and a waste cost.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I have spoken to cafe owners themselves and some of these cups are quite elaborate. They are printed-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Yes, and remember one needs a lid too. Part of the manufacturing process is to ensure people do not burn their hands so it is not just a single layer and so on. I am sure they are telling me the truth when they are telling me the prices they are paying. There is probably a range of prices but whatever it is, it is not zero and the consumer pays for it when he or she accepts one of those cups.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I am getting to that. We have not implemented the levy yet. We had a public consultation on it and the results of that were published. There is clearly big public support for it. In order to collect the levy, I need to some entity to agree to be the collection agent for it. I have been persuaded by the Revenue Commissioners to change the approach I was taking to that but it is going to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: On the question about the curriculum, it is a basic skill for people to be able to assemble flat-pack furniture, for example, and to be able to use a spanner. That is fair enough. I will mention it to the Department of Education the next time I ask how it is getting on with the solar panel project, for example. Bringing in more practical skills, including the basics of how to do things in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: On single use plastics in supermarkets and the requirement for organic vegetable producers to wrap things in plastic, at the end of the day the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 included a requirement to analyse and report on the use of plastics in supermarkets. That work is under way. There is a timeline for it in the Act. When it is ready I will be interested to see...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is important. Energy credits were introduced as part of emergency legislation last year. The Cabinet agreed on a special allocation to make sure that the money reached Travellers. The way that was done was that the money was sent to the local authorities. Each local authorities was asked to state how many Traveller families it had. A...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: There are. The Deputy mentioned the health sector, for a start, in regard to aprons and so on. There is a tradition or culture in the health sector of treating medical waste very carefully, putting patient safety first and effectively incinerating everything. Until recently there was an incinerator in every Irish hospital with a chimney. Every type of waste went into the incinerator and...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to present the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023 to the select committee. The main pursuit of this Bill is to fulfil Ireland's obligations under EU Council Regulation 2022/1854 of 6 October 2022, on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices. It does this in accordance with Government...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy for tabling the amendment. The proceeds from the cap on market revenues will be retained by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, or EirGrid on its behalf, and it will be used to support final electricity consumers in line with Article 10 of the regulation. Since the regulation is in force, the proceeds must be distributed in accordance with that regulation. ...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy for the amendment. There has been significant diversity in the approach to the implementation of the market cap across the European Union. While some countries such as France and Spain have chosen slightly lower caps than us for renewable energy, others, such as Denmark, Belgium, Sweden and Austria, have chosen caps at higher levels. Several member states have also, like...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy for the amendment. As he can imagine, I too want to raise the maximum amount of revenue possible from this Bill. The rationale for setting a €120 MW/h cap is to maintain positive investment signals, and that is according to Article 8.2.(c) of the European Council regulation that we are implementing. We want to make sure that Ireland remains an attractive location...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Essentially, there are two basic contracts under which wind farms operate. One is the original idea, where there was a minimum guaranteed price provided under REFIT and they were guaranteed that no matter what happened they would get this much money per MWh. However, recently we have run renewable energy support scheme options where there is effectively a maximum price a wind farm can bid...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: It is €92 per MWh.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy very much. We are having a discussion here and I am listening to him. In a recent debate he deplored that there were not a sufficient number of competitors in a renewable energy support scheme auction.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: He is therefore aware that attracting enough people at a reasonable price is an important thing and that there is a balance to be struck here. We need to decide how far we go in taking windfall gains away from companies and when we arrive at a point where nobody shows up for the next auction. That is the balance we need to meet between the two. It needs to be struck somewhere. I am saying...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Price is a factor. However, it is not the only factor. Predictability of investment is a factor and Ireland, if we are not good at anything else, is certainly good at attracting foreign direct investment. We have extensive experience in that area. We also managed, at the same time as attracting foreign direct investment, to recoup large sums of money from those who have invested here and...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (5 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: This is a fair question to raise and a good thing to discuss. The cap on market revenues is going to operate from 1 December 2022 until 30 June 2023. That is set out in the European Union regulation, which states that a set of measures should be urgent, temporary and exceptional. The regulation does not provide for the cap to extend to periods after this period or before this period. The...