Results 27,861-27,880 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Air Quality (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is important that we continue to review, revise and amend, particularly with the airport changing and the new runway. We both know the series of issues that have arisen around different flight paths and so on. I would argue that the concerns of local residents in south Swords or other areas need to be listened to. I would be happy to assist the Deputy in engaging with Dublin Airport to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Air Quality (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I agree with the Deputy. We have to treat air quality absolutely seriously. There are 1,600 premature deaths each year due to air quality issues. We have taken significant action in this Government - actions that were put off by previous governments for decades - with regard to introducing standards around solid fuels, which is the key issue around impact, as science tells us. That is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As part of an enhanced package of SEAI retrofit supports, the heat pump grant has increased significantly, with grant support for an air-to-water heat pump of up to €6,500. For homeowners undertaking a deep retrofit under the national home energy upgrade scheme or the community energy grant scheme, additional grant support is available towards required heating system upgrades, as well...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In terms of meeting targets under our retrofitting programme and improving the heating and insulation of homes-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, but the wider picture is that we massively exceeded our target last year, with 47,000 houses done and another 37,000 planned.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Heat pumps have been fitted in more than 3,700 homes, which was a 66% increase on the previous year. Yes, we need to go further and faster, and we will do that. In particular, we need to improve a lot of the online and other bureaucratic systems around heat pump supports, which are not as flexible and as fast as I would like to see, in order to deliver the scale and number of heat pump...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: There is mounting international evidence and concern about the limited availability of sustainable HVO. I will happily share that with the Deputy. It is an international issue of real concern and we cannot ignore it. There is a whole variety of solutions. The first has to be, as we are doing now, improving the insulation capabilities of something like 50,000 houses a year, which will make...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In order to assist with the achievement of our retrofitting targets, the programme for Government, the climate action plan and the national retrofit plan committed to the introduction of a new residential retrofit low-cost loan scheme. The home energy upgrade loan scheme was developed by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Finance, the Strategic Banking Corporation of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is frustrating that it is taking longer than I would have liked. The main reason is that this is a first for the European Investment Bank and the European institutions. They have never before engaged in direct lending support to consumers. They have to get it right and make sure all their qualifying criteria and all the processing adheres to European law and so on. That is the reason...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: What I am getting is a lot of people in other European countries and the UK looking at what is happening in Ireland and saying it is a model they need to follow. As I said to Deputy O'Rourke earlier, we are seeing unprecedented levels of retrofitting taking place. It is way ahead of target.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We are significantly ahead of B2 targets. It is not just about retrofitting; the Deputy is right to focus on microgeneration where there has also been a phenomenal increase, both domestic and non-domestic, in the uptake of the grants. We are providing very significant grants to encourage people to avail of solar PV. Yes, we will go further on that and a range of different measures because...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Usage (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The Government's energy security package, published in November 2023, contains a wide range of measures to strengthen Ireland’s energy security in the long term, including through reduced and responsive energy demand, a commitment to delivering on a renewables-led energy system, enhancing resilience across energy supply and enhancing oversight and governance mechanisms in the energy...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Usage (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is essential we do both. The most recent statement about what happened last year shows the benefit of that approach. As I said, we are slightly better positioned than we were last year because our demand has not grown by as much as EirGrid had expected because of efficiency measures applied in a variety of ways. We focus first on energy efficiency in everything we do. That is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Usage (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I do not see electricity demand doubling in the next few years. We cannot afford for that to happen either on a security of supply basis or on an emissions reduction basis. That is not going to be tolerated. We have a large number of data centres on our system. They account for a large percentage of demand. They bring enormous benefits to the economy, which we should not ignore....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As the Deputy said, the climate action plan set ambitious targets to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a building energy rating of B2 on a cost-optimal basis and the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older and less efficient heating systems by the end of this decade. The national retrofit plan sets out the Government's approach to delivering on...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Since the Government came to office, expenditure on this has increased from €40 million to €210 million. Members should be honest. Is that not a significant and incredible increase? The great thing we know is that thanks to the carbon tax, which Deputy Paul Murphy opposes, it will increase by the same amount next year. It is predictable, so you can get the workers and reduce...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I am not.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Again, I take the point. I have not included social housing and the Deputy is right; we need to do that as well. I am going from memory as I do not have the figures in front of me but spending before the lifetime of this Government was about €10 million and has increased to about €90 million last year. A 900% increase in spending is not small. What is an increase from...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Our reliance on fossil fuels is incompatible with the Paris Agreement and a low-carbon future. Ireland supports measures that reinforce and advance our transition away from reliance on fossil fuels and while we have not signed the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, we continue to follow its progress and development. We are acting domestically and internationally to tackle our reliance...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is a complicated issue. If the conclusion of my last comments reflected that, that is the reality. I have spent a fair bit of time in discussions. I attended in New York last September a special meeting hosted by, I think, Tuvalu and Vanuatu - small island states. The meeting was mainly attended by small island states, including Ireland, and we spent a lot of time discussing how we...