Results 28,421-28,440 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, I can. First, I am very glad that we have the restoration of the assembly and the Executive up North. I note that we do not yet have the timeline around some of the North-South ministerial meetings. That is needed to co-ordinate, and I am really looking forward to it. We need to get down to business quickly, but we have to await the timelines around that. I have couple of points to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: My response to that is the same as I would for Dublin, namely, the metro is not just for Dublin Airport, but for all the institutions. Similarly, a Shannon rail connection would not just benefit the airport. There is a very successful industrial estate and a very large town that would benefit, so it is not just about the airport.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: With regard to Wicklow, similar to other projects, it was not in any plan or in the NDP, but I am absolutely convinced that we can and will deliver it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The timeframe would be in the next two to three years. The challenge with all of these projects is getting the grid connection and power, because we need a very high power capability when there is a battery electric train running off the wires, which would be the case in Wicklow. That project would take longer if we were to electrify all the way to Wicklow. My understanding is that is not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We have to work with the NTA. The political direction that I would give to it is that we want to extend the service to Bray. It is doable, so the answer is "Yes". If I can, I will just make a point on Local Link. I got some figures that will give the scale of it. Deputy Whitmore said that things have not changed that much. I only have aggregated figures for Carlow, Kilkenny and Wicklow.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Carlow and Wicklow are adjoining counties and they are similar. In 2019, before Covid, there were about 12,700 Local Link services in those three counties. Last year there were 132,900. That is a fifteenfold increase.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: There has been a 1,500 % increase in patronage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: If I can, I will respond to Deputy Bruton's point. Many of the reasons for the slow progress are on the planning side; it is not just in transport. Deputy Bruton mentioned renewable energy. There had not been a renewable energy farm passed for two or three years, partly because An Bord Pleanála was in real difficulty and did not have enough resources. That has been addressed and it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Has it? I thought it was in planning or it was-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: That is an example. We would want to tell the people of Ringsend that project has died a death. Will Ringsend take the entire sewerage system for Dublin?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: My understanding of the Clonshaugh project was that it was in some planning limbo.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Planning limbo is where a lot of projects are because of an incredibly complicated process. We need to pass the planning Bill. It is controversial. It is the subject of 1,500 amendments at the housing committee, but every place I look I see that our biggest challenge is how long it takes. We want to keep the right of appeal and set the highest standards in everything, but it is not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will give another example from personal experience. This is why I am so passionate about the issue. When we were previously in government, I was really pushing metro north. I was involved in that in the nineties and saw the sense of it. In the period from 2007 to 2009, with a lot of resistance from the Department of public expenditure and reform, I was saying we had to build it. It was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: That is the process. I will give some hope. It is not all hopeless. While all those wind projects are now being judicially reviewed, last year for a good year for renewables. We went up to approximately 45% renewables, which-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: -----beat the previous record, and it will not stop. It is just that delay costs money and costs us in emissions reduction because, especially in transport, the biggest obstacle to us advancing is the length of time. It takes at least ten years to get a bus lane from idea to implementation. That is too slow. It is not good enough. We have to speed up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I very much agree with the Deputy about the latter point but I disagree with him about the former.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (22 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I remember how the original introduction of a bus corridor or bus lane on the N11 was the subject of deep scepticism and there were predictions of dire consequences and arguments that nothing would work. Lo and behold, when we put in a high-quality and high-frequency public transport system, the public flocked to it in the same way it is doing with regard to Local Link services around the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (27 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The Government in December 2023 approved the Climate Action Plan 2024 (CAP 24). This is now subject to a public consultation and a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Within CAP 24, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) technologies are recognised as means of mitigating emissions from hard to abate activities. CAP24 proposals include the establishment of a Carbon Capture and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (27 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Climate breakdown represents an existential threat for all of humanity, and addressing it has been a central focus of this Government. We must continue to accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Ireland is already experiencing increased precipitation, floods and droughts, as well as the longer term risk of the potential...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Bodies (27 Feb 2024)

Eamon Ryan: One member of the Climate Change Advisory Council is a designated public official, within the meaning of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 (as amended). Eoin Moran is the Director of Met Éireann, which is a prescribed position under the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 (Designated Public Officials) Regulations 2015. None of the other members of the Climate Change Advisory Council, nor...