Results 12,441-12,460 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Better Energy Homes Scheme Administration (6 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The Better Energy Programme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). As of February 27 2014, more than 155,000 homes have received a grant under the Better Energy Homes Scheme, with the total grants provided reaching €162 million. A further 105,000 homes have to date received a free energy efficiency upgrade under the Better Energy Warmer Homes Scheme,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Post Office Network (6 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I refer to the reply to Question No. [9846/14] of 26th February 2014. The position is unchanged.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Post Office Network (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: There is no Government plan to close post offices. The decline in post office numbers has, in fact, been arrested. Figures in the Grant Thornton report commissioned by the Irish Postmasters Union show that, although there were 197 closures between 2006 and 2010, from the end of 2010 to date there have been 17 closures. Reference was made to the business carried out by An Post for the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Post Office Network (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I agree with Deputy Moynihan's disposition towards the importance and value of An Post. However, the Irish postal service is a network of commercial enterprises that are subject to EU competition law, so there is no avoiding that. I do not disagree with the sentiments that Deputy Moynihan has expressed but in his question he asks about my plans to guarantee the future of the Irish post...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Post Office Network (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The universal service obligation stands. It is Government policy and we have reflected that Government policy at EU level, which is that the universal service obligation should apply and continue to apply. It is no longer possible, as a member state of the European Union, that any Minister or anyone from any side of the House can prescribe that in future the post office in whatever town or...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Postcode Implementation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: My Department commenced the procurement process for a national postcode system in 2011. An open and competitive procurement process was conducted in accordance with Department of Finance and EU procurement frameworks. A pre- qualification questionnaire was issued on on 17 January 2011. This invited interested parties to tender for the contract as a postcode management licence-holder for a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Postcode Implementation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: We have a leading-edge project here. In a context where every OECD country has already introduced this type of system - most of them 30 years ago - we are able to benefit from the subsequent advances in technology. Moreover, the expenditure on the project will go back to the State on a scale in excess of 50% because it involves preparing the databases within Departments and so on. The...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Postcode Implementation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I do not know what the Deputy means by his last point. I will, of course, furnish him with a note on the point he makes about the threshold, but I do not know to whom he is referring in his last point. I do not know who he considers to be "benefiting". The officials in my Department who brought forward the project are not benefiting. The company that was eventually selected has an...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Offshore Wind Energy Sector (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The offshore renewable energy development plan, which I published last month, identifies an opportunity for Ireland to realise the potential of our offshore energy resources by increasing indigenous production of renewable energy, thereby contributing to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, improving the security of our energy supply and creating jobs in the green economy, especially in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Offshore Wind Energy Sector (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: If the Deputy gets an opportunity to study the OREDP, which I published last month, he will see there are many actions at my door that will have to be driven in the years ahead. Ocean energy encompasses much more than purely the offshore wind aspect. Wave and tidal sources of energy are still at the research stage, but we have uniquely propitious resources in that area. I am also...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Offshore Wind Energy Sector (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: We discussed that at Cabinet when I brought the memorandum on the OREDP. The Deputy's question is pertinent because the situation has always been somewhat disparate, to put it mildly. My Department has the role we know about. In addition, the Ministers for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Transport, Tourism and Sport, and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation all have roles. In Cabinet there was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: EU Directives (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: There has been detailed engagement by my Department with the European Commission over recent years on the transposition and implementation of the EU third energy package. The Commission notice of referral refers to Ireland having adopted a considerable amount of legislation required by the directive but notes that some provisions remain to be transposed. My Department is at an advanced...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: EU Directives (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I can give the Deputy an example. In the context of cross-border issues, the national energy regulator, which in Ireland's case is the Commission for Energy Regulation, is required to maintain the same level of confidentiality regarding any information received from another regulatory authority as that which applies to the original regulatory authority. The regulator is to be required to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: EU Directives (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: We have a healthy marketplace now. In addition to the companies I named, we now have Centrica, a major company in the neighbouring island, coming in after the purchase of Bord Gáis Energy. Most commentators would agree that we have significant competition in the marketplace but I agree with Deputy Moynihan that one has to be vigilant about this. There were particular reasons the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Electricity Transmission Network (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: EirGrid’s Grid25 plan to upgrade the national transmission system between now and 2025 is a major initiative which will put in place a safe, secure and affordable electricity system throughout the country. On 28 January last, in response to EirGrid’s recent public consultation process, I announced that I had appointed an independent panel of experts, chaired by Mrs. Justice...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Electricity Transmission Network (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: As Deputy Colreavy fairly said, there are a wide range of views on this. For a short piece of interconnector line, it must be the most examined and studied line in the history of transmission. If the expert panel under former Supreme Court Justice Catherine McGuinness agrees to look at it, the panel will, as a result, review the reports that are there, and that includes the Askon report. ...

Other Questions: Wind Energy Generation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 34 together. Electricity demand must be met by generating the exact amount of energy required at any point in time. The responsibility for maintaining this balance between demand and supply is managed in real time by EirGrid, the independent electricity transmission system operator. To deliver on this remit, EirGrid's operation of the electricity...

Other Questions: Wind Energy Generation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The answer to the substantive question is "No". The contemplated export project has nothing to do with excess capacity in the system. As that project has been planned, the requirement on the Government is to put in place the intergovernmental agreement that facilitates trade in green energy under the relevant EU directive. It is a private sector project and is entirely separate from the...

Other Questions: Wind Energy Generation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: Do not cut me off in mid-flow. This could be a major scientific breakthrough. Deputy Colreavy knows that the wind can blow strongly in the west, yet it need not be blowing strongly here on the east coast. Similarly, there could be high winds in Scotland without there necessarily being wind in Ireland.

Other Questions: Wind Energy Generation (11 Mar 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: We may well be able to set up a task force to get to the bottom of this matter.