Results 26,661-26,680 of 26,791 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the EV charging network over the coming years. Having an effective and reliable charging network is an essential part of enabling drivers to make the switch to electric vehicles. The Government’s aim is to create an optimum environment to keep up with demand for EV charging and make it...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicles (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the EV charging network over the coming years. Having an effective and reliable charging network is an essential part of enabling drivers to make the switch to electric vehicles. Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI) is a dedicated Office within the Department of Transport, charged with supporting...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Network (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure, including, in consultation with Iarnród Éireann, the DART+ West project. The DART+ West project plans to extend DART services from the City...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Rail Network (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; however, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally and for the scheduling and timetabling of these services in...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Air Navigation Orders (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: On 1 May 2023, pursuant to the Air Navigation and Transport Act 2022, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) was established as the single civil aviation regulator for Ireland. The air navigation service provision functions of the IAA were transferred to the newly established commercial state body AirNav Ireland, which is regulated by the IAA. The IAA is the competent authority for EU civil...

Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Carbon Budget: Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, as an gcuireadh bheith anseo tráthnóna inniu. I thank the Chair, Deputies and Senators for the invitation to appear before the committee today and I very much look forward to working with the committee over the term of this Government. The committee's role in scrutinising the proposed second carbon budget programme is critical and is a...

Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Carbon Budget: Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Following extensive analysis and updated modelling, the CCAC has now submitted its proposal for the second programme-----

Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Carbon Budget: Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: -----which is the subject of our discussion today. This proposes a finalised budget for 2031-2035, which is carbon budget 3, of 160 MtCO2eq with a provisional budget for 2036-2040, and carbon budget 4 of 120 MtCO2eq.

Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Carbon Budget: Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Senator for his welcome. Obviously all inputs into this process will be fully considered. On the matter of temperature neutrality, the Climate Change Advisory Council spoke to the committee last week. I received correspondence in that regard this morning, as I think the committee did. That is the whole purpose of this process. There will be different views. The calculations...

Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Carbon Budget: Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I truncated my opening statement but if one looks at ambition, the EPA’s projections are very clear and they show that, with additional measures, we will fall short of our targets for 2030. However, that should not be a reason to raise the white flag on this either because there are certain sectors that have performed well. We have seen significant emissions reductions in 2023, which...

Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Carbon Budget: Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: No, I do not think it does. The climate action plan speaks very clearly about energy security. The Government made a decision on the floating storage regasification unit, FSRU, that there be a State-owned and operated liquid natural gas reserve in the event of something happening to our existing connections. That was a risk we could not ignore. In her public commentary on this, Marie...

Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy: Carbon Budget: Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (2 Jul 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Deputy for his questions, which I will answer directly. The Energy Security in Ireland to 2030 report was clear on the risk to Irish society and the economy should an unexpected event happen to our gas supply, most of which comes from Scotland. Between 25% and 30% comes from Corrib and the remainder is imported. We have seen activity around our gas interconnectors and...