Results 25,761-25,780 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Metropolitan Area Networks Programme (16 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 552 and 559 together. The Review of pricing and access arrangements of the Metropolitan Area Networks has been finalised by Analysys Mason Consultants. My Department is engaging with the Management Services Entity (enet) in relation to implementation of the recommendations of the Review and the Review will be published shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (16 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 553 to 555, inclusive, together. The main support for start-up companies seeking to grow their business comes though the Department of Enterprise, Business and Innovation and their agencies such as Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices. In terms of supports for energy there are several programmes funded from the Exchequer and administered by the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (16 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: The National Broadband Plan High Speed Broadband Map, available at www.broadband.gov.ie, shows that the premises referenced by the Deputy is in a BLUE area, where commercial operators are currently delivering or have indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services. My Department defines high speed broadband as a service of at least 30Mbps download and 6Mbps upload. Where a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (16 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: In April 2017 my Department published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. This map shows the areas targeted by commercial operators to provide high speed broadband services and the areas that will be included in the State Intervention Area under the National Broadband Plan. The Map is colour coded and searchable by address/eircode: - The AMBER areas...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Wind Energy Generation (16 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: Within the overall funding envelope of €164 million for energy in Budget 2019, the individual programme allocations are still be finalised and will be published in the Revised Estimates for Public Services in December. In terms of renewable energy there will be provision for a pilot micro generation scheme which was announced in July 2018 and which will run until...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Disposal Charges (16 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: My Department is continuing the work of developing a mechanism to provide a €75 support for persons with lifelong or long-term medical incontinence to help meet the average annual cost of disposing of medical incontinence products. This process has unfortunately taken longer than envisaged, due to a number of issues, not least data protection issues that have arisen since the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation Targets (16 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: My Department has the lead role in developing Ireland’s first National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), covering the period 2021-2030. The creation of a NECP is one of the key provisions of the proposed Governance of the Energy Union Regulation, part of the European Clean Energy Package published in November 2016. This is an overarching, consolidating regulation that will consolidate...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Incentives (16 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: The high level design of the new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) was approved by Government in July 2018 and it is expected that the first renewable electricity auctions will take place under RESS in 2019. The RESS will be subject to the new rules on public support for projects in the field of energy, adopted by the European Commission in April 2014, which seek to promote a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Conservation (17 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: Since 2013 Government investment of over €325m has been provided by my Department to drive demand and increase the depth of retrofit being carried out through home energy grant schemes operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. To date 375,000 homes across Ireland have carried out energy efficiency upgrades under these schemes.   A number of actions which...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (17 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 191 and 194 together. Both of the premises referred to by the Deputy are in the AMBER area on the High Speed Broadband Map, which is available on my Department's website at www.broadband.gov.ie. The AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led Intervention under the NBP and are the subject of an ongoing procurement process. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (17 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location.  The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector. Today, 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. This is being achieved via a combination...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (17 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: My Department currently has a total of 69 staff assigned to climate and related energy policy functions, across eight separate divisions. This staff complement has significant experience in developing and implementing climate and energy policy at international, EU, national, regional and local levels. In addition to its own staff, the Department also has access to scientific and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Mitigation Plan Implementation (17 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: Ireland's first National Mitigation Plan, which the then Minister published in July 2017, is a whole-of-Government Plan, reflecting, in particular, the central roles of the Ministers responsible for the four key sectors with the most significant contribution to national emissions -Electricity Generation; the Built Environment; Transport; and Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use. The...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Carbon Tax Implementation (17 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: The then Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment wrote to the Minister of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform on 27 July 2018 in the context of pre-Budget engagement on taxation policy matters for Budget 2019. In relation to carbon tax, the Minister’s letter re-stated the Government’s commitment, through the National Mitigation Plan, to an...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Competition Law (17 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: Data relating to market concentration in the electricity and gas markets is collected, monitored and published by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU). The latest data is available in the CRU’s 2017 Electricity and Gas Retail Markets Annual Report published on 6 July 2018. The report is available to download on the Commission’s website www.cru.ie. The Commission...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electric Vehicles (18 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 245 and 246 together. The majority of the existing network of publicly accessible charge points was rolled out by the ESB through its eCars programme. This network includes 77 fast chargers, mainly on national routes. A real-time map showing the charge points, including the status and availability of the charge points, is available on the ESB's website at...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Disposal Charges (18 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: I do not have a role in setting price levels for waste collection.The charges applied by waste management companies are matters for those companies and their customers, subject to compliance with all applicable environmental and other relevant legislation, including contract and consumer legislation. However, in line with the commitments set out in A Resource Opportunity - Waste Management...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Meetings (18 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment has a broad remit and is responsible for communications, broadcasting, postal services, energy, natural resources, climate change, waste management, air quality and environmental policy.  The day-to-day functions of the Department in carrying out its remit, therefore, involve engagement with a broad range of stakeholders. ...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Expenditure (18 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: Expenditure on the National Broadband Plan was first incurred in 2013.  The total expenditure to date since then is approximately €22.2 million. This expenditure includes the cost of corporate finance and economic advice, technical support and network design, the cost of legal advice, environmental advice and process auditor costs.  These services were procured by...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Websites (18 Oct 2018)

Richard Bruton: My Department’s website, www.dccae.gov.ie, was unavailable to the public during a period from Thursday 11 October 2018 to Saturday 13 October 2018. As part of the normal course of anti-virus and operating system updates, the website encountered technical difficulties which resulted in issues in accessing the site. The web application needed to be rebuilt as a consequence of these...