Results 11,041-11,060 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Departmental Properties (28 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Matters in relation to premises are a day to day operational matter for the Board of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) subject to Public Financial Procedures. However, I am informed by IFI that the site has been sold, following it being advertised in a public tender process, to Mobhi Co Limited in March 2013 for €530,000. IFI is not aware of any condition attached to the sale of this...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Metropolitan Area Networks Programme (28 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) Programme was developed to address the 2004 policy objectives of removing barriers to foreign direct investment (FDI), increasing regional telecoms competition and reducing the cost of telecoms. The MANs Programme, which was eligible for co-funding of 40-50% under the European Regional Development Fund, has cost in the region of €174million to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (28 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Ireland's telecommunications market has been fully liberalised since 1999 in accordance with the requirements of binding EU Directives. The market has since developed into a well-regulated market, supporting a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms. Details of broadband services available in each County, including County...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Schemes (28 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) Scheme was introduced under Section 46 of the Finance Act 2008 as an incentive to encourage companies to procure highly energy efficient equipment and in turn assist Ireland in meeting its EU targets for the reduction of carbon emissions. The scheme, which is overseen by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (29 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Government, through the National Broadband Plan, which I published on 30th August last year, has recognised that the key imperative now is to ensure high speed broadband availability to all. Specifically, the Plan commits to: - 70 Mbps to 100 Mbps available from the commercial market operators to more than half of the population by 2015, - At least 40 Mbps, and in many cases faster...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Inland Fisheries Issues (29 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The principal functions of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) are set out at Section 7 (1) of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010 (No 10 of 2010), which are the protection, management and conservation of the inland fisheries resource. The Act, in defining the membership of IFI, provides that the persons to be appointed shall have experience or capacity in one or more areas defined in the Act; and that...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Natural Gas Grid (29 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) is the statutory, independent body, charged with the assessment and licensing of prospective operators seeking to develop and operate a gas distribution system within the State. I have no direct statutory function in relation to the connection of towns to the gas network. The CER, in 2006, approved a network connections policy which enabled...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Exploration Industry Data (29 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Whilst there has been some welcome upturn in the level of interest in exploration off our coast in recent years, the reality is that the only commercial discoveries of hydrocarbons made in the Irish offshore to date are the three producing gas fields in the Kinsale area and the Corrib gas field. There have been no commercial discoveries of oil to date. Despite the low level of commercial...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Speeds (29 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The broadband service contracted under National Broadband Scheme (NBS) was designed as a basic, affordable, scalable product in keeping with EU State Aid clearance for the Scheme. Under the terms of the contract which my Department has in place with “3”, the NBS service provider, the NBS mobile wireless service is required to offer minimum download and upload speeds of 2.3 Mbps...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Exploration Licences Approvals (29 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: No prospecting licences have yet been granted in this instance. A statutory notice of my intention to grant licences over a number of townlands in the Inishowen area was published on 30 April 2013, with a period of 21 days in which objections could be submitted. Five (5) objections were received by close of business on 21 May 2013. A further five (5) objections were received after the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: European Council Meetings (29 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I wish to advise the Deputy that the policies of Transport, Telecommunications and Energyare dealt with under one Council formation - Transport, Telecommunications and EnergyCouncil (TTE). In my role as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, I sit on the Energy Council and the Telecommunications Council. I chaired an Energy Council meeting on 22 February 2013, which...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Parliamentary Questions Numbers (29 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: I wish to advise the Deputy that any parliamentary replies I issued to him to date in 2013 have been answered in full and there was no undertaking made to provide any further information.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Job Creation Targets (30 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Ireland has an excellent, largely untapped, wind energy resource. The opportunity to harness this resource for the export market, and realise its potential for investment, job creation and economic growth has been identified. To this end, I signed a Memorandum of Understanding on energy cooperation with my UK counterpart, Mr Edward Davey, on 24 January this year. This Memorandum of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (30 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Ireland's telecommunications market has been fully liberalised since 1999 in accordance with the requirements of binding EU Directives. This market is regulated by Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). The market has since developed into a well-regulated market, supporting a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms....

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Gas and Electricity Disconnections (30 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity market, including disconnections, is a matter for the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which is an independent statutory regulator. While disconnections are a matter of concern to me, I have no statutory function in the matter of disconnections of electricity or gas customers regardless of the supply company involved. The CER...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Hydraulic Fracturing Policy (30 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: On 17 April, 2013, I attended the Information Session on Fracking at the Royal Irish Academy. The Academy hosted this discussion in order to place scientific facts on the record in a measured manner. Speakers at this meeting included, Professor Shannon, Geosciences Committee, Professor Richard Davies University of Durham, Professor Padraic O’ Donoghue, Chair Engineering Sciences...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Speeds (30 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: Ireland's telecommunications market has been fully liberalised since 1999 in accordance with the requirements of binding EU Directives. The market has since developed into a well-regulated market, supporting a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms. Details of broadband services available in each County, including County Kerry,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Departmental Budgets (30 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: In the context of the forthcoming Budget, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has asked my Department to identify savings which will feed into the expenditure decisions by Government for the Estimates 2014 and the setting of future Ministerial ceilings. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has asked that the identification of savings options should ensure that a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: National Wind Energy Strategy (30 May 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: By end of Quarter 1 of this year there was 1,763MW of wind energy generated electricity connected to the grid in the Republic of Ireland and 551 MW connected in Northern Ireland. In 2012, 15.5% of electricity demand in the Republic of Ireland was met from wind energy generated electricity sourced in the Single Electricity Market (SEM). In Northern Ireland the corresponding proportion was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Energy Regulation (11 Jun 2013)

Pat Rabbitte: The Government remains firmly committed to increasing competition as the best means of exerting downward pressure on prices in the electricity and gas markets in Ireland. Currently, there is competition in both the electricity and gas markets, with many players competing in both the wholesale and retail segments of the electricity market and in the retail segment of the gas market. Business...