Results 27,161-27,180 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (14 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Exactly. It is the city price being applied.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (14 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (14 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I will not comment on how one gets from Inis Oírr to Inis Meáin with a peer in only one location.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (14 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Submissions to Government memorandums are not normally published but those to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform were published because they were submissions of a different order. They were not only submissions to a Government memorandum but they had been made in the course of all of this process. They were in a different category and that is why they were published.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (14 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: That is above my pay grade. I will have to check that out for the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (14 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Exactly. I agree with the Deputy's analysis that the carbon footprint will be impacted. Many progressive companies engage in significant remote working and they only do that if there is a secure fibre link. They will not do it on a wireless-based link. The Deputy is correct that if this was given to a commercial State company, there would have to be a new procurement process. One could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan: Discussion (14 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The company would have to rent the poles or build its own. Within two years, the contractor would be active in every single county. I understand the grid is separated into 110 zones of 5,000 each. I presume there is a certain logic based on the nodes, as the Deputy described. The MANs and Eir exchanges will be the base from which they will start. They will seek to deliver on a least...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Since the privatisation of Telecom Éireann, we have depended on the private sector to deliver high-speed broadband. This has been fine for 75% of the population but for 1.1 million people the private sector will not deliver. The Department engaged in an evaluation as to what the best way was to ensure we could provide that service. Very clearly, the best approach was for the State to...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: -----without starting afresh, abandoning this tender and starting a new procurement process.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I assure Deputy Michael Moynihan that the Government is taking this issue very seriously. The Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, has been taking responsibility for this. He has led an initiative that has, from memory, 33 actions, including legislation actions, to bring about change in this area. There has also been an improvement in the operation of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board,...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh (Atógáil) - Questions on Promised Legislation (Resumed) (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I am aware of this problem and I will arrange for the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to respond directly to Deputy Neville.

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh (Atógáil) - Questions on Promised Legislation (Resumed) (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I understand that the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, is looking at the system of drawing up the electoral register to see if improvements can be made. There is a desire in the long term to see an electoral commission established and more systematic oversight put in place. In the short term, however, the Minister of State will be reviewing this issue and I will ask him to include the...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Post Office Network (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Deputies for raising this matter. I know it is of concern locally and I understand that. Deputy Stanley and, in particular, Deputy Fleming, having been chairman of the Oireachtas committee on State-sponsored bodies for many years - I enjoyed my time working under him there - will know that these State bodies have been set up under law in such a way that Ministers are not...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Post Office Network (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: Interestingly, I recently visited Mountmellick and found it to be a thriving community with great enterprising initiative being undertaken. It is using the fund of €1 billion the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, has made available. It has competed for the fund, developed projects and is a shop window of good examples of how towns are taking their revival...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Illegal Dumping (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy indicated, his question is somewhat different from the generic question submitted. I cannot comment on an issue where there is, from what the Deputy has said, an apparent dispute between the EPA and Meath County Council. The Deputy is aware that Meath County Council is, in the first instance, responsible for enforcement. However, the EPA has significant powers and it oversees...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Illegal Dumping (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: It is important to draw distinctions. Local authorities are the regulators of illegal activity and they have a role to ensure regulatory compliance. However, being regulators does not make them liable for the damage being done by private bodies. It would be impossible to carry out regulation if, as the Deputy suggests, local authorities were to become in some way financially responsible...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Illegal Dumping (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: In addition, the Deputy has made allegations that I cannot substantiate one way or the other that local authorities themselves are involved in illegal activities. In this respect, I go back to the points I made. The EPA has a supervising regulatory role in respect of local authorities and if there are instances of this nature, the EPA has enforcement powers. These powers include not only...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Protection Agency (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: I am informed that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is co-funding a research project with the EPA entitled "Eco-driving: Trends & Potential Impacts for Irish Heavy Duty Vehicles" on which Trinity College is the lead investigator. The objectives of the project are to evaluate the impacts of eco-driving programmes in the Irish HDV fleet focusing on identifying the best...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Schemes (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The delivery of 14 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) filling stations, as part of the Causeway Project co-funded by the EU Connecting Europe Facility, is an operational matter for Gas Networks Ireland. I have been provided with an update on the current status of these stations by Gas Networks Ireland which is set out in the table below. Location Status Station 1 Dublin Port In operation...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Litter Pollution (15 May 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Litter Pollution Acts 1997 to 2009 provide the statutory framework to combat the litter challenge. With regard to posters, the primary purpose of the Acts is to reduce litter by prescribing periods for which public meeting and election posters may be displayed. Under the Acts, the primary management and enforcement response to littering, including oversight of the removal of posters and...