Results 13,281-13,300 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Data Centres (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: We are starting an energy security review. It is looking at the wider context in terms of gas networks and so on but when one starts looking at it, one realises that to have a full review one has to see the full picture and that includes demand, which includes these operations and others. It is an important part of our economy. As the Deputy said, the data centres themselves are relatively...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Electric Vehicles (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Government is fully committed to supporting a significant expansion and modernisation of the electric vehicle charging network over the coming years. We have committed €10 million from the climate action fund to promote the charging network and this has leveraged a further €10 million investment from ESB. This intervention will result in 90 additional high-power chargers,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Electric Vehicles (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I will start by replying to Deputy Aindrias Moynihan. As it happens, I had a meeting with Cork County Council last week on the issue of sustainable travel in general. I take every chance I get to encourage local authorities to make an application for funding and look to develop their infrastructure. The benefits, as I see it, are setting out a direction of travel. We are running a towns...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Electric Vehicles (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I have not yet responded to Deputy O'Connor, if I may briefly run over my allotted time.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Electric Vehicles (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I believe that the future will be all electric. Certain other players, including the likes of Toyota, would say that hybrid cars have a real advantage. Toyota would say that a hybrid vehicle is running on electricity 80% of the time, taking the energy from the brakes, and that there is efficiency because there is a large number of cars for the amount of battery power required. The reason I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Electric Vehicles (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I mentioned the problem of the distribution grid. When we are using heat pumps as well as electric vehicles, probably the biggest engineering and technical challenge is how do we do that in an urban area. We will not have that problem in one-off houses in rural Ireland because cars can be charged right outside the door of the house. That vehicle and a heat pump can be managed. There will...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Landfill Sites (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: In the year to date, funding of almost €3.4 million has been provided through the landfill remediation programme for the project at Kerdiffstown. It is expected that further funding in the region of €2 million will be drawn down by Kildare County Council by the end of this year. Following the completion of the 2021 Estimates process last month, I expect to be in a position...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Landfill Sites (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: It is a sad tale but I hope it is one that has a somewhat better ending, as the Deputy says. It was a quarry, dating back to the 1950s. In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, issued a waste licence. A revised licence was issued in 2006 but the EPA then had to take court action in 2009 because there was significant odour pollution at the site. The EPA found that the site was...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Post Office Network (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The importance of the post office network has been clearly demonstrated during the pandemic. We have seen a range of initiatives carried out through our post offices which have helped to support local communities, the elderly and vulnerable. However, the serious decline in the volume of mail and the impact of Covid-19 on footfall through post offices has had a severe impact on the postal...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Post Office Network (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Government has continued to look at this matter. Today, we announced a series of further Covid-related payments, in this case to the aviation industry because it is in real trouble. I would not rule out whatever further measures that the Government might have to consider. The Deputy is right when he says that the 25% reduction in footfall is a real issue. An additional cost of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Post Office Network (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I join the Deputy in thanking the workers in the post offices for the really good work they have done throughout the year in this Covid-19 crisis. The Deputy mentioned European examples which we will look at. I should also mention, further to our previous discussion, that An Post availed of a European Investment Bank loan of approximately €40 million as part of its strategic...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I remember the Topical Issue matter. I hope to get the placenames right in this case, rather than including west Kildare in my east Kildare line-up. My response is similar to the one I gave earlier in response to a Topical Issue matter. The national broadband plan, NBP, intervention areas are set out as those areas that cannot be met by targeted commercial operators. Premises in the amber...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is absolutely right that we should not simply rest on our laurels or wait for the national broadband plan and not do anything else. There are large areas in other parts of the country not in the intervention area and we have to have an eye on them. Competition does help here, particularly where a technology evolves. There may be innovation occurring in fixed wireless or other...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I fully agree that there are developments in fixed wireless and other non-fibre based solutions but that is what we have gone for with the national broadband plan. It is largely fibre based. I remember talking to the engineers around the configuration of that. They found it was optimal in terms of meeting the needs of the national broadband plan. There was not a blind spot ruling out...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Warmer Homes Scheme (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: Of the 107 jobs there are approximately 50 within my Department, primarily in the energy sections. There are so many different projects going on at such a scale we find that we need additional resources. It is about the ability of the State to deliver but sometimes we meet a constraint. Fifty-seven will be in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. It is an independent public agency...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Programme for Government notes that the transition to a low-carbon future will unleash huge changes in society that, while presenting significant challenges, will also bring a range of opportunities, the impacts of which will be unevenly spread and will manifest themselves in different ways. The Programme for Government, therefore, affirms the necessity for a just transition pathway to be...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Programme for Government sets out that, as Ireland moves towards carbon neutrality, it does not make sense to develop LNG terminals that import fracked gas. The Programme for Government is clear that the Government does not support the importation of fracked gas and commits to developing a policy statement to establish that approach. This policy statement is being developed by my...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Strategies (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Programme for Government sets out the Government's response to the significant challenges facing the country including COVID-19, decarbonising our economy and creating a sustainable future for all.As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government requires a massive step up in ambition and delivery in areas for which my Department is responsible including: - supporting an average...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Supply Board (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The first progress report of the Just Transition Commissioner, Mr Kieran Mulvey, published on 22 May, reflects a comprehensive engagement with relevant stakeholders in the Midlands, setting out the analysis of the challenges facing the region, and for Bord na Móna workers, their families and communities, arising from an accelerated exit from peat harvesting. The report contains important...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (10 Nov 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Programme for Government commits to achieve an average 7% per annum reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions from 2021 to 2030, and to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, including setting our 2050 target in law through the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill. Delivering our increased ambition to 2030 will require a doubling of effort from that set out in the...