Results 8,601-8,620 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Written Answers — Consultancy Contracts: Consultancy Contracts (22 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: No employment agency provides staff to my Department. I have no function in relation to staffing matters in bodies and agencies under the aegis of my Department. For the information of the Deputy a small number of contractors work in the Information Technology and Natural Resources areas of the Department. One member of Department staff is on secondment from the ESB.

Written Answers — Energy Resources: Energy Resources (22 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: Ireland currently imports approximately 95% of its natural gas needs along with 100% of its oil needs and this has implications for our energy security of supply. With the Kinsale area gas fields nearing end life, the only new indigenous natural gas source in development is the Corrib gas field. Rather than seeking to further delay the commencement of production from the Corrib gas field,...

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (22 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I can inform the Deputy that, since the establishment of my Department in 2007, neither I nor any former Minister has appointed a former holder of Office of Attorney General to a State Board under the aegis of this Department.

Written Answers — Pension Provisions: Pension Provisions (23 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: The matter of severance packages to retired and retiring Chief Executives of State and semi-State companies under the aegis of my Department is a matter for the agencies in accordance with Department of Finance (Public Expenditure and Reform) guidelines. I am arranging for the Agencies under the aegis of my Department to provide relevant details to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (24 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: The Application Phase of the Rural Broadband Scheme closed on 29 July 2011. Approximately 5,000 applications have been received although not all of those applications will be eligible under the terms of the scheme. The Department has almost completed the processing of applications, which involved clarification of address details. This process will enable the Department to finalise eligible...

Written Answers — Broadcasting Services: Broadcasting Services (24 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: The Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Bill was enacted on the 2nd August 2011. The Broadcasting provisions of this Act give legal effect to the distribution of some of the net licence fee monies to TG4, giving effect to a decision taken in Budget 2011. This figure has been determined to be €9.245m for 2011. The remainder of TG4's €32.75m current funding for 2011 is direct...

Written Answers — Energy Conservation: Energy Conservation (24 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: In launching Better Energy: the National Upgrade Programme, last May in the context of the Government's Jobs Initiative, I also announced the rationalisation of the existing domestic energy efficiency schemes under one Programme. Better Energy: Homes has subsumed the Home Energy Savings Scheme (HES), the Warmer Homes Scheme (WHS) and the Greener Homes Scheme (GHS). Measures being supported...

Television Licence Fee (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: Section 124 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 sets out the mechanism by which increases or decreases of the television licence fee may be determined. In particular, it allows for the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, to recommend in a report to the Minister an annual licence fee modification. This recommendation is to be based on an annual review on the extent to which RTE has fulfilled...

Television Licence Fee (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: Given the straitened economic circumstances in which we have found ourselves over the past three years, the Deputy is correct that any alleviation of charges, fees or levies on people generally would be helpful but he should not hold out a reduction in the television licence fee as alleviating the pressures under which people find themselves. I am not sure that of itself it would constitute...

Television Licence Fee (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: It is important to bear in mind that broadcasting is suffering the same stresses and strains as the economy in general. There has been a dramatic reduction in RTE's commercial income, which is nowhere near what it was three years ago. That is a serious development. There has been a significant shift of advertising away from the traditional television platform and towards the Internet. I...

Affordable Energy Strategy (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: As Deputy Martin Ferris will be aware, I published the affordable energy strategy, which meets our commitment in the programme for Government, at the weekend. This strategy will be the framework for building upon the many measures already in place to protect households at risk from the effects of energy poverty. These include the thermal efficiency-based measures delivered through the...

Affordable Energy Strategy (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I agree with Deputy Martin Ferris. It is undoubtedly the case that there are people living in the circumstances that he described. No doubt he is correct that it has a negative impact on their health, etc. I can assure him that the grant scheme to which he refers will survive the budget. Together with the jobs initiative announcement earlier in the year, we will have spent some €100...

Affordable Energy Strategy (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I am happy to communicate my view again publicly to the regulator, which is that any further changes in energy prices this winter ought to be downwards.

Affordable Energy Strategy (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I accept entirely that we are price takers in a global energy market and that gas prices, in particular, have gone up almost 30% in the last 11 months or so, which has a very severe impact on the provision of energy, including electricity. That is a very serious situation. In reply to Deputy Ferris's question, I would hope the discussions we have been having over the past six months with the...

Energy Regulation (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets is a matter for the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, which is an independent statutory body. I have no statutory function in the regulation of marketing for either the business or domestic sectors. The regulator has informed me that it is in the process of outlining procedures for clear and comprehensible presentation...

Energy Regulation (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I agree with the Deputy. It is very important that there is sufficient transparency to allow customers and competitors to compare and contrast. The Deputy is correct about that. Of course, this market has seen changes in recent years and there is now competition in it. In those circumstances, it is important that there is the ability to compare and contrast and that there is adequate...

Energy Regulation (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I can give the Deputy that assurance. It is the case that due to various global developments the price of the raw material being imported into this country has risen dramatically. That has had the effect the Deputy described on domestic prices. That will be especially difficult if we have as severe a winter as last year. I am happy to point out that since the new Government took office...

Alternative Energy Projects (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: REFIT 2, the next phase of the renewable energy feed-in-tariff, REFIT, scheme, is designed to support up to 4000 MW of onshore wind, landfill gas and hydro technologies. There is also a new REFIT scheme for biomass technologies, known as REFIT 3, which will support a range of technologies, including combined heat and power, CHP, and anaerobic digestion as well as for co-firing of biomass in...

Alternative Energy Projects (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: I have not had any contact with the Commissioner for state aids but I can tell the Deputy that I have raised it directly with Commissioner Oettinger, the energy Commissioner. I expected that we would have it by now. The Deputy asked me in his question to specify the reasons for the delay and to be honest with him. I do not know the reason it is taking so long. I am advised we have...

Alternative Energy Projects (29 Nov 2011)

Pat Rabbitte: We are in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol. I would not boast about it because to some degree it is the step-down in economic activity that has produced that situation, but we are in compliance and it is important to say-----