Results 19,261-19,280 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The EU just transition fund is a newly established fund for the 2021-2027 period operating within the framework of the EU cohesion policy. The fund is to address the adverse socio-economic effects of the climate transition by supporting the most affected territories and workers and ensuring a fair transition. Ireland must prepare a territorial just transition plan and accompanying...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I will give the Deputy some of the numbers involved in response to her question about the survey. There were 82 responses to the online public consultation survey and 41 submissions from individuals and groups. We are only just assessing those at the moment so I do not have a timeline yet for the delivery of the report, but as soon as I do, I will share it with the Deputy. With regard...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I had the pleasure of visiting County Offaly late last year and meeting council officials, the people involved in organising these transition fund projects and a number of those who are involved in the projects. Rather than it being a story of a lack of success, what I heard from both the council and the people involved was that this is working. It took time. If I was in here saying the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right and I remember the role he played in those grant schemes. We favoured the islands for a number of reasons. The islands are demonstrable. They are particular geographic areas so one can show and measure effects. The likes of Inis Mór and the Aran Islands have been progressive and have showed leadership in demonstrating how communities can come together. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I would be happy to meet the representatives of the organisation the Deputy mentioned to discuss this issue. If we do that, I would also like to broaden the discussion because I think there is a lot we can learn from the islands. As the Deputy mentioned, there are island-specific skills. Islanders have the ability to be innovative and flexible. They do a variety of tasks that often...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I will look at the threshold for turnover. I do not want to have such a complex bureaucratic system that we create a separate issue. However, if the turnover is a difficulty, we will look at it. There are a variety of issues when it comes to higher costs. Obviously, cargo ferry costs are one of the most significant. My Department, in a variety of ways, is keen to support, and is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Government supports it. Regarding grant levels, a key grant would be for something like a heat pump. In that instance, the grant will stay fixed but the overall building costs may change. It is appropriate for us to have a mechanism whereby there is a set level in order that people have certainty. We do not want to create a completely different and separate system for the islands,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC, which is located in my Department, has a broad remit across the cybersecurity of Government, ICT infrastructure and critical national infrastructure. In the immediate aftermath of the ransomware attack on the HSE, the NCSC led the national response process and took measures to protect other critical infrastructure operators. This included rapidly...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right to raise concerns about security on mobile telephone devices. Everyone, even within the industry, recognises it is a real issue. There is much public debate on issues such as Ministers having a Garda driver and so on. In discussions with officials recently, we all agreed we need Garda security on our mobile communications system as much as we need a Garda driver. That...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: As I said, I have been in touch with the director of the NCSC in recent days to get an update on the particular situation we are in at the moment. I agree with Deputy Stanton that we have to do more and we are looking and working in co-operation with network operators to improve our security and to make sure they maximise security on their networks. The NCSC publishes a lot of its...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: There are over 276,000 premises in County Cork of which over 80,600 are within the NBP intervention area and they will receive access to high speed broadband under the NBP. Government investment in County Cork in the NBP will be in the order of €314 million. National Broadband Ireland, NBI, has made steady progress on delivery of the new high-speed fibre broadband network under the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: I will make a broad point. The NBP is of critical importance and it is hugely important that we have the whole country covered but it is not the only investment that is taking place. There is huge investment taking place in a competitive market with operators like Eir, Virgin Media, SIRO and others. They are chasing after customers and investing all around the country and we are starting...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The point I was making to Deputy Gould is that we are seeing fierce competition between the other providers to get to customers because Eir is investing and significantly expanding and as I recall it had an additional 300,000 rural houses that it went to get to. Having done those it is moving to the next block and it is also moving into urban areas because it sees that it is at risk of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: It comes down to each individual house and that is how companies plan to roll out the network. In the timeframe that was mentioned we will go to a situation where the vast majority of houses, be they in rural or urban Ireland, will have access to fast fibre-optic cable broadband. That will position us well in the provision of public services, helping small businesses and as the Deputy...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Production (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The role of hydrogen and the actions needed for its development were considered as part of the development of the climate action plan 2021. The plan, published in November, identifies green hydrogen as having the potential to support decarbonisation across several sectors and, in particular, as a source for high-temperature heat in industry and flexible generation in electricity. A key...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Production (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: It is critical that we develop clean electricity because it can only be green hydrogen. As a State, we will not go down the route of hydrogen coming from natural gas which would only worsen our energy security issue. Some 90% of our energy is imported into this country at the present time. We have to change this for climate and other reasons. The green hydrogen strategy goes hand in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Production (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy asked a variety of questions. Obviously, safety has to come first. One of the issues with the networks is that green hydrogen has different characteristics such as much smaller molecules. Therefore, when it comes to the distribution gas network, even though ours is very modern, leakage becomes a more significant issue. Ports will be central to our hydrogen strategy because that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Production (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: Yes. We are looking at a variety of schemes.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The role of the National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC, is to support Departments and other public bodies to improve the resilience and security of their IT systems to better protect services upon which people rely and their data. The NCSC has a number of vital functions, including co-ordinating the response to large-scale cybersecurity incidents; supporting public sector bodies and critical...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (24 Feb 2022)

Eamon Ryan: The first responsibility there is on the network providers. I have seen in the past how they work on a collective basis, including with the NCSC and other agencies, to make sure their networks are as secure as possible. They have the primary responsibility for the networks. However, the NCSC has overall responsibility. It is the centre of excellence and expertise in the State, to which...