Results 24,101-24,120 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: It is not sitting waiting on our desks. We are waiting for further information from the RSA to be able to sign off on it.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: We have to avoid that. There is huge potential for a ports in particular to benefit from the development of offshore wind. That will be in three types of development. One will be operation and maintenance. That will be a large number of ports right around the coast, with smaller vessels maintaining and operating the turbines. Then there will be deployment ports. They will be the ones...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right that is part of the conversation or discussions we had last night. We had a meeting of the relevant agencies and Department about what happened at the airport. It is not new. There had been a number of instances over the past year. Last weekend was unusual in that, three days in a row, in effect, there were drone intrusions that required diversion of certain flights....

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: That is right. It is the maximum on indictment. It is an important message for anyone doing this who may think this is without consequences. It could potentially have huge consequences, including incarceration. It is a very significant issue. On the issue of the military capability to bring down drones, we must be careful here.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: That is very much an evolving technology. An example was cited of what the French airports are doing in preparation for the Olympic Games in 2024. We will look at that and liaise with the Department of Defence and the Air Corps. However, as I said earlier, while we are willing to deploy such technology, it is not going to be done immediately. On an immediate basis, we are going to have...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, that is where we can and should look at tightening up to make sure we get full information. These technologies are readily available. They are very small and very easy to conceal. They are very easy to import and easy to deploy. We do need to use all the mechanisms we can to regulate them. We were advanced in introducing legislation, which is ongoing. We are particularly looking at...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: This issue is raised at the EU Council transport meetings. There is a whole swathe of legislation coming through the Council meetings and particularly with regard to the Fit for 55 plan to meet climate targets. We had thought that the agreement on open skies would be one of the policies to be progressed more quickly, and we are frustrated at the delay and difficulty in getting that. From...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: Yes I do, because it makes sense. It saves money, as well as being environmentally beneficial.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: Again, it is one of those elements within the European Union legislative package where we are going to be compelled - I believe appropriately - to have percentages available. The technology in this area continues to evolve and my sense is that the first sustainable aviation fuel that could really be used in widespread deployment will be using waste oil, such as hydrogenated vegetable oil....

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: In respect of An Post, that three-year decision for €10 million for each of the next three years is designed to maintain the network that is hugely important for social cohesion with great potential for the delivery of State services, which is one of the things An Post has looked to increase to increase the footfall in the post offices. There is also a real necessity for such a...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: On the fares, my intention is that we would continue the reductions we have introduced because a clear consistent signal works. There are other examples of other countries where they implemented quite dramatic fare reduction measures but they had to unwind them and a stop-start approach does not work as well. Our approach is working. Earlier I attended a Labour Employer Economic Forum,...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I do not see those figures. If I may, the protection and renewal figure is pretty much being maintained. There will, in the next two to three years, be a switch in investment towards public transport as compared with roads investment. We will still be investing significantly in roads but the Government committed to a 2:1 ratio in favour of new public transport projects. The reality is...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: The Oireachtas joint committee of which Deputy O'Rourke is a member will have a critical job in the pre-legislative scrutiny of that important legislation. It is more a reorganisation than major reform because it recognises that the existing 2000 Act had been amended so many times that often it was contradictory, unintelligible or difficult for either someone opposed to a development or...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: Now we will have wandering into another Minister's territory. I hope the Acting Chairman does not mind. I agree with the Acting Chairman. There would be sense in having the school transport system within the Department of Transport. This is not in any way criticism of the Department of Education but because what we do in the Department is transport. Also, I see potential benefits and...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: There is bad news for the Acting Chairman's wife in the newspapers.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: They are talking about vending machines and we know there will be no carrots in those vending machines. I would say the Deputy will be back to muffins or crisps. We have seen a remarkable return to public transport in this country, ahead of other countries. Rail has been slower, mainly because it is used a lot for long distance commuting and people are not commuting the way they were,...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I agree. The new hackney service we introduced in January is exactly what the Deputy has described. The hackney drivers are part time. It is not expected that any of them will be full time. Bookings would have to be made in advance. It can aggregate passengers and it is designed exactly as the Deputy described it. We have set out a number of villages across the country, particularly...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: It is. We were discussing this earlier and none of us was satisfied with the long delays in driver testing, NCTs and getting licences. With regard to testing, 18 months ago, the Road Safety Authority applied for 80 additional positions. We provided the first tranche of 40. It did not proceed with the second tranche but we are waiting for the final details to be able to sign off on it. I...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I agree. I do not think this will be a temporary phenomenon. Our population is growing dramatically.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Revised)
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (8 Feb 2023)

Eamon Ryan: The most important thing is that there is a restoration of the Assembly in the North. That would allow a minister to be appointed and allow us to conclude the rail strategy for the whole island, which we are waiting to do. It is for the whole island and includes such matters as links to the north west, which is a really important issue. It started with the Belfast-Dublin-Cork corridor, but...