Results 32,221-32,240 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Further Revised Estimate) (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: Yes. It was remiss of me not to wish the Minister well on his decision not to contest the next election, like me. We will probably wash up on other shores. I hope so. He has done some wonderful work in the Department, which I think has been acknowledged in the media. One recurring theme for me is these outputs and outcomes that are being published as part of the RES. I just do not...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Further Revised Estimate) (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: May I ask the Minister about the energy poverty programmes? I see they are moving along around the 6,000 mark, and I know that much deeper retrofits are being done than used to be done, but has the Department commissioned any research to see where we are with the number of people who are eligible under the national fuel scheme, how many have been reached and what sorts of homes people who...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Further Revised Estimate) (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: Going back to the circular economy strategy, we have had legislation and the Minister has commissioned work, which I think is called a gap analysis. However, we are two years from that legislation and I am concerned that the creation of circular economy strategies for each sector is quite delayed. I have always advocated here and elsewhere that we should bring the sectors together already,...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Further Revised Estimate) (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: Even now we could not convene groups that would take on this discussion within food, construction and the key sectors we are interested in. It will be tricky for the Minister to set specific reuse targets for construction, for example, because there are a lot of moving parts. However, the need to have the sector thinking about how it can adopt more circular approaches is urgent. We still...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Further Revised Estimate) (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: On the climate action fund, is it correct that a surplus of between €250 million and €260 million is being carried over into this year? Is a call for funds expected if there is a significant build-up of reserves to initiate some new thinking in climate action?

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Further Revised Estimate) (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: I would not like to see the elimination of the concept of calls. With projects being stalled, the Minister sees this as removing barriers, which is appropriate and I understand the reason for that. However, it is desirable to keep some element of the idea of issuing calls and forming groups of councils, enterprises, and whoever else, to initiate some projects.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: 57. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has assessed the role that artificial intelligence should play in shaping the future of further and higher education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27049/24]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (25 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: 86. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the areas of acute shortage of skilled workers in the public sector; and the initiatives he is considering to bridge the gap through instruments such as Springboard, dedicated public service apprenticeships, traineeships, and so on. [27048/24]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Driver Licences (26 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: 26. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to consider making arrangements whereby Irish people with driving licences obtained while living abroad could avail of some form of recognition or fast track to certify their competence. [27503/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Foreign Conflicts (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: 12. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he is monitoring the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Sudan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27587/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Foreign Conflicts (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: More than 8 million people are displaced in Sudan, which is the same number as have been displaced from Ukraine. The country is on the brink of famine. There are widespread allegations of war crimes. The siege of Al-Fashir is now looking very like what we are seeing in Rafah. I am interested to hear what Ireland and the international community are doing in this sphere.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Foreign Conflicts (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. Everything he sets out there is on the direction we need to travel but a concern is that there is not the urgency or the momentum to make it really stick. There is still a supply of weapons to the warring parties. Humanitarian aid is not getting through on the scale needed to prevent famine. I wonder to what extent the gathering...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Foreign Conflicts (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: I will just make one comment on the wider situation. Is it not the case that migration is now disrupting European politics in a way that is extremely worrying? I welcome the EU migration pact, which we agreed in the House last night, but the truth is that war, displacement and climate change are building up massive problems for us in Africa. The seriousness with which this must be taken at...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Environmental Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: 74. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if discussions with the various sectors have commenced on the expectations of stakeholders to deliver circular economy strategies; if he will outline the greatest barriers which the Government is encountering in delivering climate targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27581/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Environmental Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: It is well known that sectors such as food, construction and transport can greatly reduce their negative impact on the environment - not just emissions but biodiversity-impacting pollution waste. I know that the Minister has ambitions to do this. Have we already started getting the sectors together to make the changes that are needed?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Environmental Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: I appreciate what is happening, but when we passed that circular economy Act it was enshrined that we would have the second circular economy strategy within six months. The Government has not activated that section, so as a result the six months did not start. That is a sleight of hand. In countries that have been successful in this field, they had voluntary compacts developed before the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Environmental Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: There were loads of things that could be done. Some 60% of what we discard goes into the wrong place where it cannot be recovered. There is no question of recovery, recycling or reuse. That was an early win. We do not have to wait for statutory obligations to come in to get the sectors around the table eliminating things like that. That is where my frustration comes from. It is a lot of...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: The Tánaiste will have read that today the Climate Change Advisory Council remarked on how progress in transport emissions has been arrested, the inordinate delays in, for example, getting BusConnects through and the need for a better planning model for compact development in urban areas. However, the big wake-up call related to EVs, where progress has been arrested. There needs to be,...

Statutory Home Care: Statements (27 Jun 2024)

Richard Bruton: I welcome this debate and the work the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is doing in this area. In my view longer lives is one of the greatest achievements of humanity but sadly it is too often portrayed as a period of decline or even of burden. We need to see this issue through a different lens. While I welcome the Commission on Care for Older People, I would have to say that again its...