Results 20,501-20,520 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Gas Networks Ireland's Vision 2050: Discussion (15 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: The Norwegians are also building floating offshore wind. We are thinking of 20 GW over the next decade, and somebody the other day told me 70 GW of offshore wind off the west coast of Ireland. In the timelines we are talking about, would that not set our course to say we have this massive wind resource, particularly the potential from floating wind off the west? We have the infrastructure...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Gas Networks Ireland's Vision 2050: Discussion (15 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: If it is a choice between importing fracked gas from the United States, where there is a real problem, or importing offshore wind, I know which I would be betting on if I was on the board of Gas Networks Ireland, GNI, or was the responsible Minister. On the question of costs, the other main component of Gas Networks Ireland, GNI, development is the development of biomethane from Irish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Gas Networks Ireland's Vision 2050: Discussion (15 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: It is for gasification.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Gas Networks Ireland's Vision 2050: Discussion (15 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I have been to UCC and it has done significant work over the years but I have not seen it advance. What I have seen advance is major concern about nitrous oxides and ammonia. In the Dáil today, one Deputy after another stood up to say that we had an agricultural crisis because it had been raining for several weeks in Kerry and people did not know where to put the slurry on their land....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Gas Networks Ireland's Vision 2050: Discussion (15 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: Gas Networks Ireland will not be using ryegrass, per se. Mr. O'Sullivan believes the fertilisers from the digester would be sufficient to get these ryegrass monocultures that we have working. We are still left with ryegrass monoculture. I have one other point on this, and I apologise to the Chair for taking up so much time. I refer to the SEAI's assessment that the new European directives...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Gas Networks Ireland's Vision 2050: Discussion (15 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I fully agree and am in support on the use of waste and having a biogas element. However, I am highly sceptical about the 20% target or indeed about increasing it beyond that with the gasification and other mechanisms that are being suggested. I would love to see the scientific analysis of how much land is required, the whole cycle, the detailed information as to how that figure is arrived...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Gas Networks Ireland's Vision 2050: Discussion (15 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: We just might have no nature left.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: Yesterday's briefing from Downing Street, presumably from Mr. Cummings, said that the Taoiseach thinks he cannot lose by refusing to compromise now and that the British will have to put the offer back on the table whatever happens after 31 October. However the UK Government says that the deal it offers now will not be revived, that its duty of sincere co-operation would be "in the toilet" as...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: We understand their-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I do not mind levity but this is serious stuff. This is the issue of today beyond any historic moment I can remember. I can recall 2010. We are in a similar moment because what happens here in the next few weeks is important for the people of this country. This is deadly serious. I was using an analogy to show that we know politics in the UK inside out, intimately. I have ten first...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I encourage the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to try to get a deal in the next week. There was a very good briefing this morning in the AV room from the Border people who are opposed to Brexit and the harsh reality of what a no-deal crash out would bring, particularly in Northern Ireland and in the southern Border counties. There would be massive unemployment and all that might bring. If...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I will go back to the question of thinking forward to 2050. I would like to look at the amendment included in Dr. Deane's paper. I refer to point 12 on the need to be more ambitious. I think we all agree that rather than aiming for an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050, we need to be more ambitious. Complete decarbonisation will be needed sooner than 2050. There is political consensus...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: The UK Labour Party said that if it gets into government, it will seek to achieve the net zero target by 2030. I mention that as an example of how people are upping the ante in this regard. I have referred to the application of CCS. I understand a floating LNG terminal is now being considered. The idea might be to attach it to a combined cycle gas plant. I assume it would be argued that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I agree with Dr. Deane. In the absence of certain people, including officials from the Department, he is the closest thing I can get to someone against whom I might be able to argue. I say that on the basis of some of the analysis he has done. I agree with his analysis that this infrastructure is not needed. I would like to debunk the alternative argument, which is that CCS can be used to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: This is already expensive. The additional cost of transporting the carbon dioxide would add to the expense.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: My recollection is that when we were examining this issue approximately ten years ago, the Department carried out a detailed geological survey of all the areas around the Shannon Estuary. We drew a blank. There is no suitable carbon storage site anywhere close to the Shannon Estuary. Is that a further reason this does not make sense from an economic perspective in this estuary?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I am talking about looking for an appropriate place to store the carbon dioxide underground in the event of CCS being used. We would have to use an exhausted gas field or a salt deposit. No such geological formations exist close to the Shannon Estuary.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: That would result in an argument about the use of LNG in Cork. I would be opposed to that as well. I was interested in the analysis that in the event of a gas shut-off from Norway, Russia or Algeria, we would have a ten-month security window. Was an analysis conducted on our own gas interconnectors with the UK? It has been proposed that reverse gas flows on the Moffat interconnector could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I understand the LNG terminal originally died a death because it did not make economic sense. The grid cost associated with the terminal made it uneconomic. I do not know whether this has been analysed. Perhaps Professor Howarth might have an analysis he can present in this respect. My understanding is that consideration is being given to the application of a new floating terminal, rather...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Hydraulic Fracturing Exploration: Discussion (9 Oct 2019)

Eamon Ryan: I will put a final question to Professor Howarth. Does he have any analysis on environmental concerns with this floating technology? Is it more economical or is it tried and tested?