Results 27,181-27,200 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Road Network (16 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme. Under the Roads Acts 1993-2015, the planning, design and construction of individual national roads is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), in conjunction with the local authorities concerned. Therefore, matters relating to the day to day operations...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and the committee for this opportunity to present details of this Supplementary Estimate for my Department. The Supplementary Estimate is required to provide the necessary funding of €926.606 million for the electricity costs emergency benefit scheme and €12 million for the business solar scheme, both in the energy transformation...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right that it can be very frustrating. Broadband is a lifeline for many people, businesses and communities. The purpose of this is to cover the whole country, particularly the hard-to-get-to areas. We will also have to focus on a number of urban areas. As the national broadband plan is being delivered, we will have to design mechanisms to ensure we get to some pockets of...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: It has seen a significant increase staff. There is no restriction whatsoever on its ability to employ new staff. The lesson learned, in particular from the hack on the HSE, was that this is an area in which we have to ensure we are protected as well as possible. The National Cyber Security Centre is on track to meet its staff recruitment targets and there are no restrictions whatsoever in...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I accept the Deputy's point. I would make the point that more than half of the public funding coming from carbon tax goes to those on the lowest incomes who cannot afford anything. We provide 100% grants through the likes of the warmer homes scheme for those in social housing. There is €85 million available this year. I accept the Deputy's point but we direct public money towards...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: On that last point, it was the lower-than-expected fit-out of the interim facility and not the new one. The Office of Public Works, OPW, took up more of the cost than we thought. It was not material to inflation. On the first point, I am told that the increase is not due to inflation but is due to increased numbers. An example of that is that the target had been 185,000 houses by the...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: There are none that I am aware of. The eircode system is now well embedded. It is almost ten years since it was first introduced. I understand there may have been some slow turnaround in terms of new properties getting eircodes, but none have been brought to my attention. If the Deputy has any examples I will be happy to follow them up.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: Is this related to the NBP?

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I agree that ducting is preferable. It is less susceptible to storms. A lot of fibre was brought down earlier in the week by Storm Debi. There are advantages to ducting, but there can be disadvantages. One reason there was a difficulty ramping up in early days was that some of the ducting quality was not as good as originally expected. It might be blocked and not as accessible as...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: We do pan-European with other agencies. Part of the role of the National Cyber Security Centre is to get the latest information from other experts in the area and to share analysis, the patches and solutions. It is collaborative by nature when it comes to working with other agencies with expertise in the area. The Deputy is correct that this is a defence issue, as well as a commercial one....

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: It is on my desk and on those of the Minister and Ministers of State within the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Those guidelines will be in place quickly. They have been a long time coming. It is because, as we saw it, there was a fundamental difficulty with some of the new proposed guidelines. We saw they were not actually enforceable. We had to look again and come...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I welcome the committee's involvement in that. As soon as we have them cleared through Government, I will be happy to facilitate whatever work the committee wants to do.

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: The answer is in the point the Deputy makes. It is projects of scale. The departmental budget is scaling up. It has seen dramatic year-on-year increases. It has almost doubled the last three years. I mentioned a figure earlier. On the timelines, if you focus on a particular calendar year, there will be variations and some projects will overspend and others underspend. Take...

Select Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Estimates for Public Service 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (15 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: We will introduce a scheme using text messages to allow us to provide that facility. Again, it took longer than I would have liked. It was a legislative change. We originally hoped to do it through secondary legislation. The Attorney General advised, as I recall, that in fact it would require primary legislation so it took longer with the drafting of the legislation. Our system does need...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Illegal Dumping (21 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) is continuing to work on the finalisation of draft Codes of Practice and Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), which are fundamental to the future operation of CCTV schemes aimed at assisting waste enforcement and anti-litter efforts, including the monitoring of illegal dumping and dog fouling. The LGMA circulated draft Codes of Practice and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (21 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: Observations show that Ireland’s climate is changing in terms of increases in average temperature, changes in precipitation patterns, and weather extremes. Climate change is expected to have diverse and wide-ranging impacts on Ireland’s environment, society, and economic development, including on the built environment; managed and natural ecosystems; water resources;...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Cybersecurity Policy (21 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: All staff in my Department participate in mandatory cyber security awareness training annually on an ongoing basis through auto-enrolment. Additionally, new joiners are automatically enrolled and targeted to complete their training on joining. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is under the remit of my Department. Staff recruited to the NCSC have specialist technical qualification...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Expenditure (21 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: My Department has comprehensive arrangements in place to support ICT security and receives regular advice on these matters from the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the National Cyber Security Centre. For operational and security reasons, my Department cannot disclose the details of these arrangements.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Contracts (21 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: My Department has comprehensive arrangements in place to support ICT security and receives regular advice on these matters from the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the National Cyber Security Centre. For operational and security reasons, my Department cannot disclose the details of these arrangements.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Cybersecurity Policy (21 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: My Department has plans in place to address a ransomware attack and restore my Department's IT systems. For operational and security reasons, my Department cannot disclose the details of these plans.