Results 1,261-1,280 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (29 Mar 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I refer to my response to Parliamentary Question No.34 of 2 February last and I wish to advise that the Deputy that while NBI is making a considerable body of information available with respect to the deployment of the NBP network, that the specific information requested by the Deputy is not currently a part of the published information. I can further advise the Deputy, that my Department has...

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (30 Mar 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." In many ways, over the past two decades, waste policy has been Ireland’s unsung environmental success story. We have progressed from a situation where the State was facing prosecution before the European courts for lack of enforcement of unlicensed landfills to one where we have both radically reduced our dependence on landfill...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (30 Mar 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The roadmap for the introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme for plastic bottles and aluminium cans was outlined in the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, published in September 2020. In November last year, I signed the Separate Collection (Deposit Return Scheme) Regulations 2021, providing the legal framework for the scheme, in particular the terms under which a scheme operator...

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Ossian Smyth: It does apply.

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (31 Mar 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Ceann Comhairle, and all the Deputies for their fascinating and sincere contributions, not least because many of them were grounded in real-world experience. Thankfully, the regular pantomime has been missing from the debate and it has been very constructive. My sense was that the Deputies share the goals of the legislation and there is a general consensus in respect of the...

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Referral to Select Committee (31 Mar 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Environment and Climate Action pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)(a) and 181(1).

Seanad: Carbon Budgets: Motion (5 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: Thank you, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, for inviting me to this session to discuss the proposed carbon budget programme which, following a lengthy consultation and review process, received approval from my Cabinet colleagues back in February and is now before both Houses of the Oireachtas for final approval. As part of the consultation and review process, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on...

Seanad: Carbon Budgets: Motion (5 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senators for their sincere comments. One Senator asked about the staffing in the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, has managed to double the staffing numbers in the budget for it. Senator Moynihan asked about building emissions. We have an ambitious national development plan. Naturally, there will be emissions as a result of a large...

Carbon Budget: Motion (6 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I move: That Dáil Éireann shall approve the carbon budgets, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 24th February, 2022, pursuant to Section 6B(7) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Acts 2015 to 2021 regarding the approval of the carbon budget. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for inviting me to discuss the proposed carbon budget programme, which,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Management (5 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: Since 2006 the landfill remediation programme has provided approximately €190m funding to risk assess and remediate 150 landfill sites. This includes €52m for the former ISPAT site at Haulbowline, Co. Cork.  To date remediation work has been completed on 46 sites. In 2021 funding was provided for 72 sites across 22 local authorities with expenditure of just under...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (5 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The roadmap for the introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme for plastic bottles and aluminium cans was outlined in the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, published in September 2020. In November last year, I signed the Separate Collection (Deposit Return Scheme) Regulations 2021, providing the legal framework for the scheme, in particular the terms under which a scheme operator may be...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Management (5 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022 is a key step in the transition to a circular economy and will provide a robust statutory framework for moving from a focus on managing waste to a much greater focus on adapting patterns of production and consumption. Recognising the role played by the Environment Fund since its inception,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Policy (5 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: In December 2021, the existing National Waste Prevention Programme, which is operated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was revised and restructured into a national Circular Economy Programme. The new programme was published on 16 December in tandem with the All of Government Circular Economy Strategy. The Circular Economy Programme, which together with the Circular Economy...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (5 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of good reliable broadband to ensure that citizens in rural Ireland can have the high speed connectivity required to facilitate remote working and schooling. While substantial progress has been made to date, the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of the fibre network leading to delays to the build programme. The full extent...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Broadband Infrastructure (7 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and the Deputy. The national broadband plan, NBP, State-led intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland, NBI, under a contract to roll out a high-speed and future-proofed broadband network within the intervention area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in the more than 554,000 premises, including almost 100,000...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Broadband Infrastructure (7 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The Deputy is right that the project is behind where it should be at this stage, at the end of year two. The ambition, or the agreed remedial plan, is to double the output of connections in this year compared with the number last year to reach 102,000 by the end of the year. The project is not where it should be. Part of the remedial plan was to discuss the reasons for the delay. Some of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Broadband Infrastructure (7 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The project contract incudes a schedule of when things have to happen. It also includes a service level agreement, SLA, for the quality of service that has to be provided. Therefore, if NBI's network goes down for a period, it gets charged a penalty fee. If it cannot pass the number of homes it is meant to pass according to the schedule, it gets charged. Those amounts of money are...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Broadband Infrastructure (7 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: NBI gets money only when it has passed a home. It sees deductions from those payments where there are penalties in place for what it has failed to deliver, so there are-----

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Broadband Infrastructure (7 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: The money is taken out of the payments NBI is due. In the same way money is taken out of one's salary, the payments due to NBI are taken out. If the Deputy looks at the total amount of money paid in subsidy and divides it by the number of homes connected, he will see that we have paid out only 5% or so of the total cost of this project. That is reflective of the number of homes passed....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (7 Apr 2022)

Ossian Smyth: I thank Deputy Hourigan for her question. The policy document, A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, which was published in 2020 commits to substantially reducing waste from packaging and single-use plastic items over its five-year lifetime. Steps include a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and aluminium cans; the introduction of a levy on disposable coffee cups and other...