Results 3,441-3,460 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: There is mounting international evidence and concern about the limited availability of sustainable HVO. I will happily share that with the Deputy. It is an international issue of real concern and we cannot ignore it. There is a whole variety of solutions. The first has to be, as we are doing now, improving the insulation capabilities of something like 50,000 houses a year, which will make...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In order to assist with the achievement of our retrofitting targets, the programme for Government, the climate action plan and the national retrofit plan committed to the introduction of a new residential retrofit low-cost loan scheme. The home energy upgrade loan scheme was developed by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Finance, the Strategic Banking Corporation of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is frustrating that it is taking longer than I would have liked. The main reason is that this is a first for the European Investment Bank and the European institutions. They have never before engaged in direct lending support to consumers. They have to get it right and make sure all their qualifying criteria and all the processing adheres to European law and so on. That is the reason...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Air Quality (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is important that we continue to review, revise and amend, particularly with the airport changing and the new runway. We both know the series of issues that have arisen around different flight paths and so on. I would argue that the concerns of local residents in south Swords or other areas need to be listened to. I would be happy to assist the Deputy in engaging with Dublin Airport to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Air Quality (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I agree with the Deputy. We have to treat air quality absolutely seriously. There are 1,600 premature deaths each year due to air quality issues. We have taken significant action in this Government - actions that were put off by previous governments for decades - with regard to introducing standards around solid fuels, which is the key issue around impact, as science tells us. That is...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Environmental Schemes (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As part of an enhanced package of SEAI retrofit supports, the heat pump grant has increased significantly, with grant support for an air-to-water heat pump of up to €6,500. For homeowners undertaking a deep retrofit under the national home energy upgrade scheme or the community energy grant scheme, additional grant support is available towards required heating system upgrades, as well...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Prices (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The energy security package grounds Ireland's energy policy on three policy objectives: sustainability, affordability, and security. Action 2 of the package commits to standardising the approach used to evaluate the affordability of new and existing policy initiatives for consumers. My Department is committed to ensuring policies that have an impact on consumers are evidence-based, with...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Prices (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: There are two key reasons for those high bills, the first of which is the very distributed nature of our population, which makes it very expensive to provide the grid and other infrastructure to service every house. The other key fundamental is that we are still generating some half of our electricity from the use of gas. Those countries which have a high gas component in their electricity...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Prices (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We have one of the most distributed housing settlement patterns in Europe. There is no other country that has a similar pattern of one-off housing. It is expensive. The wires have to be brought to every house and that is by definition expensive. This is not going to change, but it is a reality. It is one of the reasons for high costs not just in electricity but also in water supply and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Air Quality (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The national air quality monitoring stations are operated, maintained and monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency under the ambient air quality monitoring programme. My Department has provided funding for a significant upgrade to the network in recent years and the number of monitoring stations has increased from 29 in 2017 to 116 today. All stations collect air quality data for a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As part of Budget 2024 Government approved a new tranche of Electricity Credits which over 2.2 million households will benefit from -- worth €450 in total per household. Three payments of €150 (including VAT) are being made between December 2023 and April 2024. The payments are being applied to domestic electricity accounts, including those with Pay As You Go meters,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Conservation (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In recent years, the Warmer Homes Scheme has delivered a greater volume of deeper and more complex upgrades. This is reflected in the average cost of upgrades which have seen an almost tenfold increase from €2,600 in 2015 to just under €25,000 in 2023. These deeper upgrades mean that more lower income homeowners are benefitting significantly from warmer, healthier and more...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Illegal Dumping (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As required under the legislation, the three draft Codes of Practice allowing for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant use of CCTV technology under both the Waste Management Act and the Litter Pollution Act and for the use of mobile recording devices under the Waste Management Act were submitted to me in my role as Minister by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA)...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In December 2022, my Department published Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy which supports the ambition outlined in the National Digital Strategy and sets out a number of ambitious targets, including that: all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028; all populated areas will be covered by 5G no later than 2030, and digital...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: A national Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is being introduced to encourage more people to recycle plastic bottles and aluminium cans and to ensure we meet our ambitious EU targets for the recycling of those containers under EU Single Use Plastics and Packaging legislation. The DRS Regulations place a legal obligation on all retailers who sell in-scope beverages to register with Re-turn, the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Policy (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Local Authorities have a key role to play in addressing climate breakdown to meet Ireland’s national climate targets, and they have been given an expanded mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the statutory requirement to prepare Local Authority Climate Action Plans (LA CAPs). The LA CAPs must be consistent with the most recently approved National Climate Action Plan and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Sulphur hexafluoride is a synthetic gas which has been used in sealed systems in in the electricity transmission network for several decades. Its use, including in wind turbines, serves to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. Emissions of sulphur hexafluoride to the atmosphere are controlled in the EU under the F-Gas Regulation. With a view to enhancing controls, the F-Gas...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: North-South Interconnector (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 107 and 108 together. Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity market is a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) which is an independent regulator, accountable to a committee of the Oireachtas and not myself as Minister. The CRU was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity sector following the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Grid (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity market is a matter for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) which is an independent regulator, accountable to a committee of the Oireachtas and not myself as Minister. The CRU was assigned responsibility for the regulation of the Irish electricity sector following the enactment of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Infrastructure (25 Jan 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In December 2022, my Department published Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy which supports the ambition outlined in the National Digital Strategy and sets out a number of ambitious targets, including that:all Irish households andbusinesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028all populated areas will becovered by 5G no later than 2030, anddigital connectivity will...