Results 2,381-2,400 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023: Second Stage (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Having regard to the continued high energy costs for households, I am pleased to commend the Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023 to the House. This Bill will establish two schemes to give further support to households with their electricity bills, following the success of the previous two electricity costs emergency benefit schemes, in 2022 and 2023. The...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023: Second Stage (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Senators very much. Senators McGahon and Garvey welcomed the Bill. They pointed out the improved fairness and the fact that people who received double payments last time will be excluded if their homes were vacant and many of the people who fell through the cracks last time will receive payments this time around. Deputy Boylan pointed out that she is happy we are including a...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Senator Boylan. I will take amendments Nos. 6 and 11 together. Amendment No. 6 relates to section 5 of the Bill and the functions of electricity suppliers in relation to the scheme. Amendment No. 11 relates to the Title of the Bill. These amendments seek to insert text or remove arrears limits on prepaid meters. As with the previous electricity credit schemes, prepayment...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Amendment No. 7 relates to section 6 of the Bill and the review by electricity suppliers for customers who did not receive payment under the scheme. It is necessary that we have this review in place because we are going to exclude a large number of people with vacant homes. We want to make sure that we are rightly excluding them and that we are dealing with exceptional cases in a fair way....

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The preparation for this Bill was quite different from last year's legislation. A great deal of work went into this, starting approximately six months ago. I thank the departmental officials for their work on the Bill, as well as the community groups, voluntary groups, etc., that engaged with me. For example, the Money Advice & Budgeting Service, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul...

Seanad: Ban on Dumping New Products Bill 2022: Committee Stage (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I did not know that Senator Garvey had been planning to join Sinn Féin.

Seanad: Ban on Dumping New Products Bill 2022: Committee Stage (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Would Senator Boylan have let her in? This is a Bill to prevent the dumping of unsold products. There is a moral imperative on commercial bodies that are taking part in the circular economy to fulfil their obligations in the same way that we expect that individuals will segregate their waste. It is for that reason that I brought in regulations earlier in the summer that require commercial...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Ambulance Service (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for asking this question. I will answer it on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. The question relates to ambulance services in west Cork. As the Deputy will be aware, the NAS serves the west Cork region 24-7 through a highly skilled workforce of intermediate care operatives, paramedics and advanced paramedics. There is a fleet of...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Ambulance Service (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy. I do not have the specific answer for him but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to get him an answer on the question of an additional ambulance with eight staff located in Bantry. I thank him for acknowledging the success of the helicopter emergency service. He does recognise that this is not just about the number of ambulances providing a good emergency...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Flood Risk Management (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of the recent flooding in north Louth and Dundalk. It is of both local and national importance. I appreciate and fully share the Deputy’s concern for the communities and businesses affected by last week’s flooding event. I am answering this question on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage,...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Flood Risk Management (8 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: As the Deputy rightly identifies, the OPW is not the only agency or organ of State responsible for dealing with flooding. It does flood prevention works but Uisce Éireann is involved in making sure there is sufficient drainage, in particular for new housing, as the Deputy pointed out. We have a massive housing programme, so we needed a lot of investment in Uisce Éireann. That is...

Seanad: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The amendments in this group are minor technical amendments which have been identified to provide greater clarity and reduce uncertainty for stakeholders and for affected parties. Amendments Nos. 1, 3 and 15 result in moving the definition of "affiliated person" from section 14 of the Bill to section 1. There is also additional text provided, which results in a more comprehensive definition...

Seanad: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senators for tabling the amendment. The proceeds from the cap on market revenues will be retained by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, or they will be retained by EIrGrid on its behalf and they will be used to support final electricity customers. This is in line with article 10 of the relevant regulation. Since the regulation is in force, the proceeds must be...

Seanad: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Yes, it would be good to have a report on this. In fact, the European Commission has already commissioned a review of the market cap measures in other European jurisdictions. The view of the Government is that a duplication of that effort in this regard would be unnecessary. However, I am happy to share the contents of that report with Senators if they wish to read it. I do not propose to...

Seanad: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: This Bill sets a cap on the market revenues of people generating electricity. It states that we are setting that at €120 per megawatt hour or 12 cent per kilowatt hour as a unit. What Senator Boylan is proposing is that we reduce the amount involved from €120 to €100. The path we are trying to tread here and the balance we are trying to strike is between making sure...

Seanad: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The cap on market revenues will operate from 1 December 2022 until 30 June 2023. That is set out in the EU regulation, which states that a set of measures will be "urgent, temporary and exceptional". The regulation does not provide for the cap to extend to periods after this period. The Department received legal advice with regard to applying the cap beyond December 2022. This advised...

Seanad: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: This set of amendments features minor changes of a technical nature that which my Department, with the assistance of the CRU has assessed are necessary to prevent the over-recovery of funds due to the unintended double-counting of moneys owed to the market cap fund. The issue of over-recovery only recently came to light during the consultation process the CRU carried out with industry. The...

Seanad: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: Given the short time period between the planned completion of the Bill through the Oireachtas and the requirement for there to be sufficient time for relevant parties to make returns and payments, it is prudent to amend the dates in these amendments by one calendar month respectively. These amendments should therefore also reduce the risk of future challenge.

Seanad: Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank all Deputies and Senators for their work in passing this Bill. I particularly want to thank the officials in the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications for the work they put in to carry this out. This Bill takes excessive money that was earned by electricity generators during a time of war and transfers it to electricity consumers who are finding it hard to pay...

Energy Charter Treaty: Statements (9 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I am very grateful for the opportunity to address the House on the Energy Charter Treaty. I want to briefly address a comment from Deputy Whitmore who asked why our emissions are still going up. She will be glad to hear that they are falling. The authority on our level of greenhouse gas emissions is the EPA. It reported that our emissions fell 1.9% last year and that they have fallen 4.6%...