Results 39,521-39,540 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: National Standards Authority of Ireland (15 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: In relation to I.S. 465 and the membership of the relevant National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) committees, I am providing tables containing details as requested for 2013 and 2017. I am advised by NSAI that there are two parts to I.S. 398: Part 1 relates to reactive pyrite in sub-floor hardcore material - part 1: Testing and categorization protocol. There are two editions of part...

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Low Pay (15 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am familiar with the Low Pay Commission’s report on piloting a Universal Basic Income, and its accompanying research report, authored by ESRI under the terms of the Low Pay Commission / ESRI Research Partnership Agreement, titled ‘A universal basic income for Ireland: Lessons from the international literature’, both submitted by the Low Pay Commission during 2022. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I thank the Chair and committee members for inviting me here to speak. With me today are David Hegarty, assistant secretary at my Department, along with Nick Barwise, Stephen Walsh and Alan Dempsey, who are assistant principals in my Department’s climate action team. The Government is acutely aware of the challenges presented by climate change and the urgent need to decarbonise our...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: First, can I say a little about offshore wind? Many people, when they hear the debate about offshore wind, see this in the context of a climate change challenge and the need to produce clean energy to reduce emissions. That is only half the story, because we need to do that. However. what many people do not realise is that we are about to see what is effectively an energy revolution in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I hear the Deputy in terms of the just transition and human rights as part of the climate challenge we face. We are trying to focus on the just transition. She has seen us trying to do that in the context of peat in the midlands. We have put a just transition fund in place to make sure we can invest in and support communities that are impacted by the changes brought about by no longer...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I hear what the Deputy is saying on that. I do not subscribe to the view that every large multinational is a negative influence in this space. Some of them are the most progressive companies on the planet in regard to climate transition. I understand what the Deputy is saying in making sure there is a benchmark with which everybody has to comply, from standards of reporting and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I know the Deputy is interested in this issues, as are other committee members. We sit on the offshore wind development task force. What happens on that task force is that different Departments are asked to take forward different work streams. Our Department is responsible for supply chain issues and for coming back and inputting into the task force reports in relation to that. I think we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: These is probably not as much space in Cork but very large cranes has been assembled in Cork docklands in the last number of years, which is not that dissimilar to the scale of some of the things that need to be done with offshore wind. Again, that would involve a huge amount of primary investment to create the platforms in the deepwater ports to do that. To outline what I think is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: These are broader questions that I think are partly being answered by the task force. Although the primary focus of the task force is to get these projects up and running in terms of actually putting the infrastructure offshore, there are bigger and broader questions in terms of what does the Irish economy look like in 2030 and 2035, and how are we planning for that now on which I think my...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: My understanding is that there is a task force report due at some stage in the next month but let me check.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: There will be something next month. The report will then go to Cabinet and I presume that it will be brought by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I hope and expect that the report will create an opportunity for the Dáil and Seanad to debate the issue, at that point. I think that it would be good to have an initial report by the task force...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: -----to facilitate 5 GW or 7 GW of power being produced offshore by 2030. This is enormous infrastructure that we are having to put together.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: -----as opposed to making the assumption that energy usage can be solved by erecting a solar panel on a roof. A solar panel may be the solution but not the most efficient spend of money. There is an SME voucher worth €2,000 available to companies to carry out a professional energy audit. The SEAI has a fund of about three quarters of a million euro for the large industry energy...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I want to give the Deputy a flavour of the schemes available.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: There are three or four more schemes. My Department will develop a roadmap with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications for the decarbonisation of commercial buildings. We are committed to doing that before the end of the year. We are in the process of working with that Department to do that. The challenge is identifying where to focus our efforts and money because...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: Is that timber-frame?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: A whole range of things are happening in this space. I was in Trinity College Dublin, TCD, this morning launching a consultation on modern methods of construction. Some 48 people attended from various different elements of the construction sector, from design, to construction, to academia. One of the guest speakers was the advisor to the British Government on modern methods of construction...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: We have to report every year in producing what is effectively a carbon budget to ensure we are meeting the targets we have set for 2023. That will be quite visible and there will be an opportunity for the committee to bring me back to check whether we are meeting the targets we say we are trying to achieve.