Results 32,481-32,500 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: The Fine Gael policy lab is looking at the issue of how we will have vibrant rural communities in a changing world. One of the things that has come from it very strongly is the value of the connected hubs the Minister established. There is a belief they have greater potential. Will the Minister examine how they could open for longer hours, become virtual platforms for local produce,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Community Development Projects (10 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: 76. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the lessons that have been learned from the first phase of the town centre first policy; the constraints, if any, on its rapid expansion; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40312/24]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Overseas Development Aid (10 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: 26. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has identified the need to alter the priorities in Ireland’s aid programmes, in view of the emerging global crisis points; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40314/24]

Written Answers — Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: United Nations (10 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: 37. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if Ireland is preparing any diplomatic initiatives ahead of this year’s UN Climate Conference COP 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40315/24]

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Rural Schemes (10 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: 94. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if her Department has assessed the scale of the impact on rural communities of the many community support schemes which her Department has run over the past five years, both in creating or improving community facilities and building community engagement and well-being; whether she has an estimate of the multiplier effect of these...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: I thank our guests for their presentations. Let me comment on procurement first. I am a bit puzzled. The witnesses seem to be saying they do not have enough influence over the decisions made. Every public sector body has adopted the commitment to a 51% reduction. Presumably, the first and easiest thing to do is design the things one is now procuring. How can we continue and not be able...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: Is their budget a lifetime budget or is the requirement to stay within this year's budget? There is an entirely different view if you take the lifetime impact and you factor in the carbon impact. As we go along, the price of carbon is heading towards the moon. What budget are they staying within?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: I would imagine that too.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: No one is biting with the president's teeth, as they say in America. The reality is the pressure of today's budget squeezes out all the desirable principles. The targets are not even ambitious; they are quite modest targets in a lot of areas. We need to shift something here. I saw from the SEAI's projection that the cost of securing some of these targets is between €9.5 billion...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: The SEAI has presented the evidence of where we are.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: As regards procurement, I do not think the witnesses got around to answering the question about data. If we want to drive change, we have to benchmark where we are and hold people's toes to the fire as to where they are moving. Are the witnesses able to tell us, or is someone able to tell us, the percentage of EVs being acquired where public bodies are acquiring vehicles? What is in 2024...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: That is illustrative, but at the back of the submission, in one of the appendices, there is a heap of things, like 100% recycled paper and no fossil fuel boilers going in. Do we get a snapshot? Is there an annual snapshot, a sort of name and shame, if obvious decisions are being made that fall outside what would be reasonable procurement rules? I find on this committee that we struggle to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: They are just qualitative things. They are not concrete measures of anything.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: The SEAI has said that there has not been any progress since 2020. What are the critical things on which we might have expected progress but it has not been made?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: The SEAI is pushing the beacons of excellence. Is that visible on some-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: Do the witnesses want to comment on the contractors and why we cannot use them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: What is the problem with-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Geographical Indications for Craft and Industrial Products: Discussion (16 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: The Department held a consultation, which closed in May. There is a process in place.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Geographical Indications for Craft and Industrial Products: Discussion (16 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: I thank everyone for the presentations. The consultation is under way. What happens on 30 November, as I understand it, is the Department would have to seek a derogation that it would not go ahead with this. From the consultation, there is no signal there is an intention by the Department not to go ahead with this. I do not want to panic people. It would have to be actively trying to...