Results 14,421-14,440 of 21,588 for speaker:Denis Naughten

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is already tasked with producing annual projections of greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland, in collaboration with relevant State and other bodies. A key input to these projections are annual forecasts of energy use, prepared each year by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The 2009 Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) established...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) will deliver high speed broadband access of a minimum 30 megabits per second to 100% of premises in Ireland.   Today 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. Since this Government came into office almost 400,000 additional premises have access to a high speed...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: Currently some 15,000 premises in Roscommon and 77,000 premises in Galway have access to a high speed broadband service. Of these, around 2,300 premises in Roscommon and 10,800 premises in Galway have been passed as part of eir's on-going rural deployment of Fibre to the Home and can access a high speed broadband service of up to 1000Mbps. ...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Administration (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: Last April, eir entered into a Commitment Agreement with my Department to deliver high speed broadband to 300,000 premises, predominantly in rural areas.  I understand from the company that this represents an investment of €200 million in rural Ireland. Following its withdrawal from the separate procurement process to appoint a company for the State led...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: On 20 July 2016, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal, the "Effort Sharing Regulation" (ESR), setting out binding annual greenhouse gas emission targets for Member States for the period 2021 to 2030. The targets cover sectors of the economy that fall outside the scope of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). These sectors, including the built-environment,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Public Procurement Contracts (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location.  The State led intervention aims to provide high speed broadband to areas where commercial operators are unlikely to invest.   The nature of this intervention has taken the form of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Public Procurement Regulations (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: Adherence to public procurement and competition rules by State agencies under the aegis of my Department is an operational matter for each Agency. Procedures for procurement by State Bodies are set out in the  Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies 2016. In accordance with section 8.16 of the Code of Practice, it is the responsibility of the Board to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location.  The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector. 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland now have access to high speed broadband.  By the end of this year that number...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Alternative Energy Projects (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: My Department's Draft Bioenergy Plan establishes the broader context for the development of Ireland’s bioenergy sector. It recognises that meeting the demand for biomass from indigenous sources could deliver significant economic and employment benefits and contains measures to stimulate and support the supply of Irish biomass. In the short-term, international supply chains will be...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation Targets (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: My Department is developing a new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) which is being designed to assist Ireland in meeting its renewable energy contribution to EU-wide targets out to 2030. The design of the new scheme has included an extensive independent economic appraisal which compared the cost of supporting a range of commercial renewable technologies including Solar PV...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Landfill Sites (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: Issues pertaining to planning legislation, including the legislation which regulates Strategic Infrastructure Development applications, are matters for my colleague the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. The Waste Management Act 1996 and the Waste Management (Licensing) Regulations 2004 govern the process under which waste licences are applied...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Trading Online Voucher Scheme (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 81 together. My Department's Trading Online Voucher Scheme is designed to support micro businesses (10 or less employees, less than €2 million turnover) to develop their trading online capability. The scheme pairs training with financial support of up to €2,500 (subject to matched funding), to help small businesses to grow and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: I am fully cognisant of the urgent, global challenge of climate change and its effects, particularly those experienced in the developing world. The scale and complexity of this challenge demands a coordinated approach at both national and international levels. Ireland is committed to concerted multilateral action to tackle climate change through the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Telecommunications Infrastructure (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: I propose to take Questions Nos. 45, 49 and 66 together. Providing telecommunications services, including mobile phone services, is a matter for the relevant service providers operating in a fully liberalised market regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), as independent Regulator. I do not have statutory authority to require commercial companies to rollout...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: My Department is developing a new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) which is being designed to assist Ireland in meeting its renewable energy contribution to EU-wide targets out to 2030. The design of the new scheme has included an extensive independent economic appraisal. This appraisal compared the cost of supporting a range of commercial renewable technologies, at...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Development Plan (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: I propose to take Questions Nos. 47 and 60 together. My Department has worked closely with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in framing the National Development Plan, and will oversee a significant programme of capital investment during the 10 year period of the Plan.    Climate mitigation and adaptation are cross-cutting priorities for Government and for me....

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Administration (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location.The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector. Today 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband.  By the end of this year that number...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation Targets (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: The EU Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy demand from renewable sources by 2020. Ireland is committed to achieving this target through meeting 40% of electricity demand, 12% of heat and 10% of transport from renewable sources of energy, with the latter transport target also being legally binding. While good progress...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Mitigation Plan Implementation (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: I published Ireland’s first National Mitigation Plan in July 2017 which sets out the measures proposed by the key sectors concerned for enabling a low carbon transition. Ireland’s first statutory National Adaptation Framework was approved by Government in December 2017 and was published and laid before the Oireachtas on 19 January 2018, in line with Section 6(5) of the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Prices (14 Feb 2018)

Denis Naughten: Responsibility for the regulation of the gas or electricity markets is a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU). One of its  statutory functions is to carry out market monitoring to ensure that competition continues to develop and that customers benefit from competition. Two reports published by the regulator last year concluded that Irish energy markets...