Results 26,861-26,880 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Written Answers — Alternative Energy Projects: Alternative Energy Projects (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The promoters of the Spirit of Ireland project have presented their proposal in recent meetings with my Department, with other Departments as well as with the ESB, EirGrid and the Commission for Energy Regulation. I have also personally met with the project promoters in the past few weeks. These initial meetings have given me and my Department good preliminary insight into this highly...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: I propose to take Question Nos. 51 and 54 together. My Department entered into a contract with "3", a Hutchison Whampoa company, for the delivery of the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) in late December 2008. 3 is required to provide services to all fixed residences and businesses that are located within the NBS Coverage Area and who seek a service. To this end, challenging programme roll-out...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The Schools Broadband Access Programme, administered by the Department of Education and Science, has three elements - local connectivity to schools, a national broadband network and a broadband support service desk. Schools' connectivity is being routed to the Internet through a national broadband network, which is supported by HEAnet and provides centrally managed services for schools such...

Written Answers — Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The Programme for Government target refers to a 3% reduction per year on average in greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector for which I have policy responsibility will make a leading contribution towards reducing green house gas emissions through a range of measures designed to improve energy efficiency and increase the penetration of renewable energy across the electricity, heat and...

Written Answers — Energy Regulation: Energy Regulation (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The latest available comparative data from Eurostat, published by Sustainable Energy Ireland in their report "Understanding Electricity & Gas Prices in Ireland", which covers the first six months of 2008, shows that for the most common category of small and medium businesses, Irish electricity prices are slightly below the EU average. However, for larger energy users Irish electricity prices...

Written Answers — Semi-State Bodies: Semi-State Bodies (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The Government has no plans to privatise the ESB. The Government's policy in relation to the ownership of the electricity transmission and distributions networks is clearly set out in the Energy Policy White Paper and reaffirmed in the Programme for Government. It is the Government's explicit position that the transmission and distribution network assets will remain in State ownership in...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: In designing the National Broadband Scheme (NBS), which was approved by the EU Commission, my Department needed to strike a balance between reaching as many unserved premises as possible and minimising the impact of the scheme on businesses already providing broadband services in rural areas, thereby minimising market distortion in accordance with EU State Aid rules. The NBS will be rolled...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The primary role of the Government in the development of the electronic communications market is to formulate regulatory and infrastructural policies to facilitate the provision of high quality services by competing private sector service providers. This policy approach has facilitated sustained take up of broadband across all platforms in recent years. With increased cable and mobile...

Written Answers — Corrib Gas Pipeline: Corrib Gas Pipeline (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: Currently, 96% of Ireland's natural gas requirements are met by imports from the British wholesale gas market via two interconnectors with Scotland. The remainder comes from storage and the Kinsale Field, which is in decline. The coming on stream of gas from the Corrib Gas Field will critically alleviate Ireland's dependence on imports for its period of production. The field has the...

Written Answers — Energy Efficiency: Energy Efficiency (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: I published "Maximising Ireland's Energy Efficiency - The National Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2009–2020" on 8 May 2009. The purpose of this Action Plan is to identify those policies and measures that have the potential to contribute towards the Government's national energy efficiency target of 20% energy savings across the economy by 2020. The Plan sets out details of 90 actions that...

Written Answers — Electric Motor Vehicles: Electric Motor Vehicles (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The target of 10% of all vehicles to be powered by electricity by 2020 will equate to up to 250,000 cars on Irish roads. This scale of deployment of electric vehicles will have a significant impact in terms of reducing carbon emissions and imported oil consumption in the transport sector. The challenge now is to develop costed options for the establishment, operation and maintenance of...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: Broadband services can now be provided over various platforms including DSL (i.e. over telephone lines), fixed wireless, mobile, cable, satellite and fibre by the private sector service providers. I understand that Camaghy, Maheracloone, Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, already has broadband on offer from a number of service providers as detailed in the following table. Camaghy Platform...

Written Answers — Alternative Energy Projects: Alternative Energy Projects (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The range of renewable energy support measures in place includes a number of measures that may prove particularly suitable to farmers or those living in rural areas. In the first instance, there are measures in place to support the generation of electricity on a micro scale as I announced earlier in the year. These measures include a guaranteed price of 19 cent per kilowatt hour of...

Written Answers — Alternative Energy Projects: Alternative Energy Projects (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: As published in the Revised Budget, the Energy Research allocation for 2009 is €16,676m, of which €642,000 is current and the remainder is capital. This allocation will allow a broad range of Programmes to continue, such as the Renewable Energy Research, Demonstration and Development (RD&D) programme, and the work of the Ocean Energy Development Unit. This suite of programmes reflect the...

Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The role of the Government in the electronic communications market in Ireland is to formulate policy to facilitate the provision of high quality services by competing service providers. The widespread provision of broadband services continues to be a priority for the Government. In that regard my Department has undertaken a variety of initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage....

Written Answers — Television Licence Fee: Television Licence Fee (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The following table sets out funding available from television licence fees and the breakdown of the allocation of this funding in the years 2003-2008. Year TV Licence Fee Net Proceeds RTÉ Broadcasting Fund 2003 €166.8 million €158.5 million €8.3 million 2004 €169.1 million €160.6 million €8.5 million 2005 €181.5 million €172.4 million €9.1 million 2006 €192.7...

Written Answers — Postal Services: Postal Services (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: It is Government policy that An Post remains a strong and viable company, in a position to compete in a liberalised market, provide a high quality, nationwide postal service and maintain a nationwide, customer-focused network of post offices. It is the responsibility of the board and management of the company to make strategic decisions regarding its future and how it will prepare itself for...

Written Answers — Energy Security: Energy Security (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The Government has recently announced that it has given approval to the development by EirGrid of the East-West Interconnector. The East-West Interconnector is a 500 Megawatt High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) interconnector, which will link the electricity grids of Ireland and Britain.The interconnector will, as a national strategic asset, remain in public ownership and will be owned and...

Written Answers — Alternative Energy Projects: Alternative Energy Projects (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 178, 183 and 184 together. The Government has set targets to increase the contribution from renewable energy sources to electricity consumed to 15% at least by 2010 and 40% at least by 2020. The 2010 target exceeds an EU target addressed to Ireland to increase the contribution from renewable sources to 13.2% of electricity consumed by 2010 and the 40% target...

Written Answers — Alternative Energy Projects: Alternative Energy Projects (18 Jun 2009)

Eamon Ryan: The Biofuels Mineral Oil Tax Relief (MOTR) Schemes have resulted in 18 projects overall being awarded excise relief between 2005 and 2010. Of these projects, four are in the biodiesel category, four are in the bioethanol category, five are in the captive fleets category and five are in the pure plant oil category. My Department does not have details of companies outside of the MOTR Schemes...