Results 2,601-2,620 of 11,859 for speaker:Paul Murphy

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Waste Management (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: I do not know if anyone has told the Minister this before, but he is in the Government so he can change the law. There is a majority in the Dáil. It can never be an answer to a question to say something cannot be done because it is not in the law. Evidently, the law can be changed and it needs to be changed to provide for public ownership and the re-municipalisation of waste...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Waste Management (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: I am not sure if the Minister agrees or disagrees that the privatisation of waste collection has been a disaster. It has been a disaster for households faced with bills that go up and up, north of €300 now, while the likes of Greyhound, Panda and City Bin are making millions of euro in profits and are domiciled offshore so that they do not have to pay any tax on it. It has also been...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 26. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has engaged with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Taoiseach in relation to their promotion of beef exports to South Korea and to state whether he thinks prompting beef exports to South Korea is compatible with reducing emissions from agriculture under the Climate Action Plan; and if he...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Action Plan (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 84. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to outline what increases in emissions reduction targets will be included in the next Climate Action Plan, given the failure to reach previous years' targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50289/23]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 85. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment to outline he and his Department's engagement with the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform regarding the Climate, Infrastructure and Nature Fund announced in Budget 2024; how that fund could be used to ramp up annual climate adaptation projects nationally; and if he...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Negotiations (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 86. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will outline his Government's aims, goals and targets for the upcoming COP28 negotiations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50291/23]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Negotiations (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 87. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide an update on Ireland's position on the Loss and Damage Fund, which will be discussed at COP28; if Ireland will commit at least €500 million in new money, in the form of grants, to a Loss and Damage Fund at COP28; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50292/23]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Negotiations (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 88. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide an update on his engagement with his counterparts in the EU and other international governments ahead of the COP28 negotiations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50294/23]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Air Quality (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 89. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment what measures he proposes to reduce the impact of air pollution on the high levels of asthma and COPD in this country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50295/23]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Strategies (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 129. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will outline his Department's road map for assisting the recovery in communities such as Midleton, County Cork, regarding flood relief and climate adaptation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50293/23]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Supply (16 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: 158. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his views on whether there should be full transparency in relation to the data on water abstraction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50296/23]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Northern Ireland (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: I attended an excellent town hall meeting organised by the North West Migrants Forum at the end of September. It has done very good work on highlighting the reality of the invisible hard border that exists on this island for non-EU nationals. There was another example of the consequences of this in terms of racial profiling on 7 November, when a black passenger was removed from the X4 Derry...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Trade Missions (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: I asked the Taoiseach last week about this deal for a data centre from South Korea in Ireland. I was spun a line about fuel cells and so on. The Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, said, "If we can build data centres that are powered by fuel cell technology, initially gas, but in the future hydrogen, then that really does change the dynamic". It is classic greenwashing-speak by the Government,...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: While the Taoiseach was away yesterday, the Ministerfor Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, took Leaders' Questions and he said that Israel is waging a war on children. Does the Taoiseach agree that Israel is waging a war on children? There is plenty of evidence to show that they are. Almost 5,000 children in Gaza have been killed by Israel. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: I thank the witnesses for the presentations. I will start with Ms Donnelly. As I understand it, the role of the Climate Change Advisory Council is to advise the Government on, among other things, how we can transition to a carbon neutral economy. It is not bound by the energy policy of the Government or anything else, so it is free to advise what is necessary. Ms Donnelly listed the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: I understand that answer. Maybe I will unpack it in a couple of different ways. It may be the case that Ms Donnelly and I disagree on how positive data centres are for our society. Senator Dooley compared data centres to the filing cabinets of the 1980s. In responding Ms Donnelly did not disagree with that. Let us say 18% of our electricity consumption at the moment goes on data centres....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: I think Ms Donnelly is fundamentally wrong. I suggest that, as chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council, this is information she surely must have. I do not see how she can come before us and say we should fire ahead and have more data centres, so long as we have corporate power purchase agreements and so on, without knowing how much energy is spent on useful things.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: I know.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: Sure. Has the CCAC tried to get this information about what the energy is spent on? I would wager that a small percentage of the total energy is spent on actual data storage of filing-type stuff. A relatively large percentage is spent on Netflix, YouTube etc., which people genuinely use and get enjoyment from and so on. Also, another very significant percentage, perhaps even a majority, is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Paul Murphy: What I am suggesting to Ms Donnelly is that even to think about her own computer, and the noise it makes when it begins to whirr and make activity. If it is just sitting there storing one's data on any given day, it is not making much noise or using a whole lot of energy. One can turn one's computer off and the hard drive still has the information on it. One's computer begins to whirr,...