Results 23,601-23,620 of 26,181 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (14 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: That is one thing we can agree on.

Our Rural Future Policy: Statements (14 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: I am delighted to contribute to this debate on the impact of the Government’s five-year policy for rural Ireland. In the limited time I have I will touch on some aspects of the plan. It is a cross-government plan and I commend the work of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. I am travelling the country to all the local authorities at the moment so I am seeing first-hand what is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: To add to that, the Chair had a specific question around accounting. As he is probably aware, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications are looking to put together a business case to set up a specific unit within the SEAI to deal with that under the energy performance of buildings directive. That particular...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: A unit will be set up in SEAI under the new directive. That will deal with embodied carbon frameworks. The EU directive will apply to new builds from 1 January 2027 and will apply to all builds from three years later. The Minister is saying that it is moving. We want to bring it as low as possible. Going back to what the Chair said earlier, we need to do empirical work to measure that....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: The Deputy is missing my point which is that, to do work empirically and really refine it, we need a specialised unit.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: On the legacy estates, I have requested the local authorities to go through all the local authorities and survey all such estates. Funding was provided to local authorities a number of years ago to finish out legacy Celtic tiger estates with unfinished houses. The Deputy is talking about the broader issue. I have asked the Department to go to all the local authorities and get a full...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: If I may come in on the specific point the Senator asked about, under Housing for All our Department is doing work with the Department of Transport in aligning planning with transport. We have first started with Dublin - that work is currently being concluded - and we will move to the other cities. On the specific point she raised, our Department is specifically working with the Department...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: Briefly, if I can ask, each of the local authorities is required to do a climate action plan individually. It falls in under the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, under the remit of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. He has just written to one of the local authorities to now start preparing the climate action plans with climate mitigation measures. He issued...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: I thank Deputy Devlin for the question. In regard to the retrofits, as he just mentioned, the Department has a target of 36,500 retrofits by 2030. We are on target for last year, 2022 and 2023. We retrofitted 2,183 in 2022 and the target is 2,400 for 2023. That is escalating to 3,500 next year, 4,000 the year after, 4,000, 4,500, 4,700, and 5,000 by 2030. That is very much on target....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: Of the shallow retrofit for those built between 2013 and 2021, we have done 75,000 which is 54%. Generally, the social housing stock is on target to reach 36,500 retrofits by 2030. Speaking about the private sector and how we can reduce emissions overall, there is the reuse of existing buildings to which the Deputy made reference earlier and implementing embodied carbon requirements to new...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: We are obviously engaging with each local authority regularly, but on the Deputy's point, if there are particular local authorities he believes are not meeting targets he should come to us in the Department and we will engage with them. What we ultimately want is consistency.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: The best boys and girls in the class are entitled to be acknowledged as such. It is about consistency. It is an issue I bring up when I visit all the local authorities. If the Deputy has specifics he should come to us, but his point is well made.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: I assume Senator Boylan was talking about apartments.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: I presume that is, in many cases, due to the rules under the management companies. It is obviously something that the Senator has put a body of work into. Has she come up with a proposal on it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: I will go back and engage with the officials on this point. Is it a matter in respect of which Senator Boylan has got responses from the Department to date?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: Strictly speaking, as the Senator will appreciate, within the confines of an apartment block, the management company sets the rules. Typically, people buy or rent on that basis. I will go look at it with the officials to see exactly what the situation is and come back to the Senator.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: The question I was reflecting on is whether the solution is communal areas, as distinct from balconies, which may be perceived as unsightly or whatever. I am not even going to go into that space, but people might say so. The bottom line is that I will look at this matter for the Senator and come back to her on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: It is a combination.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: Can I just clarify that one point-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Jun 2023)

Kieran O'Donnell: I want to make two very quick points on that. That was a Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications campaign. There are two Departments involved - the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Justice - when it comes to multiunit apartment blocks. I have given an undertaking, and I will look at it.