Results 39,541-39,560 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: Perhaps you can win Deputy O'Sullivan's seat
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: I thank the Deputy. I welcome our guest as well. It is good to see you. Your family's restaurant is one of my favourites from childhood and still today. This is a slightly awkward question for me because the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, that effectively manages these grants does not report to my Department. It is linked to another Department but it is a conversation...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: There is some support in this space already. There is a support scheme for renewable heat with a grant of up to 30% to support investment in renewable heating systems using heat pumps and an operational support tariff over 15 years for new installations or installations that currently use a fossil fuel heating system and convert to using biomass or an anaerobic digestion heating system.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: Heating is a big expense, especially for hotels. There is also a non-domestic microgeneration scheme, which is another €2 million or so under the SEAI. It provides financial assistance to help businesses and other sectors to install solar PV panels to generate electricity onsite. Grants are available for systems up to a maximum of €2,400 for installation of up to 6 kW hours....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: The relationship between high energy users and grid managers has worked well. We have not had alerts this winter and we are already planning for next winter by bringing new energy generation capacity onto the grid. I believe that in a few years, this will not be a significant issue because considerably more renewable power will both come onshore and be produced on land through solar and...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: I will give the Deputy the benefit of the note I have on this. My Department is committed, under action 151 of the climate action plan, to take the steps required to incorporate measures of climate-related impacts into capital grant decisions by the enterprise agencies, predominantly the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. The Department has commenced a pilot project to determine how this might be...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: Yes, I am hopeful it will be, and I think it makes sense. We are trying to build a clean, modern economy. In any event, many of the sectors where the IDA has been successful in recent years are in this space, whether that is technology, medical technology or pharmaceuticals. All these sectors are also trying to change their own systems to decarbonise how they manufacture.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: I am not aware of concerns being raised. In fact, the opposite is the case in my experience. I was on the west coast recently and met representatives of 14 tech companies. They were quite positive about what Ireland is trying to do from a climate perspective in terms of offshore renewables and the climate Bill. They want to be placed in countries that are seen as credible and progressive...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: I am glad the Deputy has asked that question. Data centres are, in my view, an essential part of any modern economy. We are a part of the European Union, which is going to build a new digital Single Market for digital services, which is a big part of decarbonisation. If you do not have to move around as much to do business, if you do not have to travel and can build more efficient...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: That assessment is in respect of grant aid. Data centres do not get grant aid. It is not relevant. The two issues are separate. We offer grant aid to companies to allow them expand or to come to Ireland in the first place. Last year, we had 240 new IDA projects. Some received grant aid and others did not. We do not offer grant aid to data centres. We can facilitate them but to do so...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: Other elements of projects can, of course, have support in terms of research and development grants and so on, but a data centre project itself does not get grant aid.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: There is a reason we put in place a clear statement on data centres last year. Concern was raised to which we needed to respond. We now have the principles for sustainable data centre development under six different headings, which are: economic impact; grid capacity and efficiency; renewables additionality; colocation or proximity with future-proof energy supply; decarbonised data centres...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: I accept that. It is why a constant conversation is taking place between high energy use data centres, the companies that own them and the CRU about how they manage energy and how they can ensure there is demand flexibility when the State needs it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: What was the second area the Deputy mentioned?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: F-gases are the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. They are not our responsibility. That is an easy and short answer for the Deputy. There was, and is, a plan in respect of alumina but it has stalled. This is all about one company, effectively. There are a whole series of other pressures in relation to Aughinish Alumina at the moment, which we are trying to...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: I am told F-gases are not under the industry or commercial buildings sectoral ceilings. That does not mean they are not an issue. I am just saying I do not have a note on this today, but I can try to get one for the Deputy.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: I have an answer as to why I cannot really give the Deputy an answer, but if he has cases that he feels need to be raised, he should send them on to me for examination. I am not over the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland. It is the self-regulatory body for the advertising industry. If there is misleading advertising-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: If the Deputy can give me some examples, I can test whether they concern a CCPC issue or one for the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland. I will happily consider the examples if the Deputy sends them on to me.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: What does it relate to?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)
Simon Coveney: Making claims about doing things that they are not doing.