Results 3,201-3,220 of 4,154 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: If a project were to cost €30,000, how much would the applicants have to put up?

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: They would get €7,000 and have to put up €23,000.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: For a business, that is fine, but it is not feasible for many community projects. I had a conversation with a community project that has a large roof area and was interested in this. It said the level of grant caused a difficulty for them. The low-interest loan is something it will have to consider. Is that available to projects such as that? It is only for residential.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: One of the difficulties is that when we get into the detail of some of these schemes, we see that people who really want to do it are excluded. Every scheme needs to have criteria, understandably. However, to give an example, a farmer would very easily run up a cost of €30,000 in putting a decent-size solar project on the roof of his or her sheds. The farmer would have to find more...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: Is there any proposal to extend that low-interest loan scheme to people in the commercial sector?

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: The difficulty is the amount of funding available and the criteria farmers have to meet. It is arduous. Anyway, it is all progress. I am not here to nitpick. It is good to see there is extra money being put into it. We also need to consider where the savings have been made. Reference has been made to the just transition and why it has not happened at the pace expected. There are...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister of State. It is useful to go through these matters. The big issue is that the ambition of the public is not matched with the support they need. That is not a criticism; it is just reality. If we were able to find better mechanisms of designing these schemes, such as the business solar one, we could get more small businesses in particular to engage with them. There is...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: The difficulty is that when people actually get into it, they start scratching their heads. They may have thought they would get certain funding but they cannot access it and they cannot afford another loan as they already have so many loans. People are put off by all that. We need to find a better route to ensure we can deliver for people who are interested and enthusiastic.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister of State.

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

Martin Kenny: I nominate Deputy Cathal Crowe.

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

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister very much for his opening statement and the detail provided. It is welcome on one level to see the NBP is progressing, and doing so at some pace. We still, however, get many people around the country very frustrated at the issues they are encountering. Everybody's individual issue is important to them. We also have businesses around the country, especially in rural...

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

Martin Kenny: Has it enough staff to do the work it needs to do?

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

Martin Kenny: I will go back to retrofitting. I spoke recently to a person who works with one of those contractors. I asked him about the types of houses they are working in. He confirmed something that I suspected and which really goes to the core of this issue. He felt it was reasonably well-off people who were getting retrofitting done. Such people had access to money. They would be able to get...

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

Martin Kenny: I understand. This is an area in which there has been an underspend. I am bringing to the Minister's attention that part of the reason for that underspend is that the people who most need the assistance are those who cannot afford to avail of these schemes. The scheme needs to be readjusted in order to ensure we are not back here and considering further underspends in the future. I take...

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

Martin Kenny: Just going back to retrofitting and the brief conversation we were having, I totally accept that great work is being done and particularly for people in local authority houses and so on. Many have schemes in place for that. However, there are a bunch of people, which I think is the majority, who are in the middle. They are people who are not in local authority houses. They are working and...

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

Martin Kenny: They really need the funding to be able to carry out schemes and they are the ones who cannot get it. We see underspend here and last week the Committee on Public Accounts heard about the amount of money that was underspent, and it is really frustrating for those people. They are the people who are talking to us, and I am sure they are talking to the Acting Chair as well, who would love to...

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Public Transport (21 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: 163. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to provide, in tabular form, a breakdown of spending on public transport for each county between 2017 and 2023. [51123/23]

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Staff (21 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: 352. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if the vacancies in her Department's unit in Longford are being filled by the Public Appointments Service with external candidates; if transfers are available to current staff members; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51124/23]