Results 3,701-3,720 of 6,802 for speaker:Darren O'Rourke

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (14 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: 265. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on compliance of an organisation (details supplied) with performance standards in relation to punctuality, reliability and customer service in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39469/22]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (14 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: 266. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of times that an organisation (details supplied) has cancelled bus services in 2022, broken down by the number of cancellations on each route; the penalties, if any, that have been levied for cancelled services to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39470/22]

Written Answers — Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: Bus Services (14 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: 267. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide an update on the compliance of an organisation (details supplied) with running bus services on time; the penalties that have been levied for failure to meet these targets to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39471/22]

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Lobbying Reform (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: The Minister of State did not touch on the lobbying issue at all. There is much that needs to be done in that regard. My colleague, Deputy Mairéad Farrell, introduced the Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2020, which the Government kicked down the road. Among other matters, this is something to which the Government must revert. I am reading significantly into the Minister of...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Lobbying Reform (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: There are two really important factors at play. The first is about lobbying and the relationship between former officials, lobbyists, Ministers, senior Government officials, advisers, and in this case, Uber and the Fine Gael Party, in addition to the privileged access lobbying affords. Revelations clearly indicate that not all of the lobbying was documented or revealed, and recording of...

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: I will not take up any more time. The incentive is there because of the market conditions. Effectively we are subsidising the export. It is not deliberately a subsidy for export. I will come back with more details. I would appreciate if the Minister of State would take a personal interest in this issue.

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister of State for his response on the perverse situation in respect of PET. I want to tease out his response a little. We talk about recycling but what we do in Ireland is collect and separate. We have a small recycling capacity. Shabra Plastics is an example of that in the PET area. Because of the incentives within the market, the subsidies on the one hand and the taxes...

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: The Minister of State dealt with one arm of my contribution, which was the issue of virgin plastic tax elsewhere. We need to keep an eye on that. The point is that we are subsidising companies here and supporting them financially to export. They are being subsidised to the point that the business model means it is profitable to export. We are not competitive here and we are not...

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: In the interests of brevity, I will make a quick point just to have it on the record again. We dealt with the EirGrid Bill. Pre-legislative scrutiny was waived, under protest, on Second Stage and Committee Stage. We in the Opposition were pontificated to. We were told we had ample time and opportunity to discuss matters but we most certainly had not. Every time we engaged on the Bill,...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cybersecurity Policy (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: 469. To ask the Minister for Health the final cost to the State of the cyberattack on the HSE; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38235/22]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Business of Joint Committee (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: I echo those points. It is disappointing, disgraceful or whatever word you want to use. This was a proud Irish company that received significant State support during the pandemic. This committee worked with it and with the aviation industry. It is entirely necessary at this time that it come before the committee, listen to questions and explain to the wider public what is happening and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy: Discussion (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the witnesses for their opening statements and contributions. I refer to modelling and future projections. I recall a figure of 30,000 charging points referred to in some of the early climate action plans. Private or independent analysis was done earlier this year that stated 100,000 charging points would be needed. There is a big difference between 100,000 and 30,000 charging...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy: Discussion (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: Following on from that, we can potentially see a scenario in which, as the quality of batteries and chargers improve, a huge amount of the charging will happen at home. There is a limited demand for anything outside of that and, in addition, there are the EU regulations to consider. I presume this will change the nature of forecourt operations. Does it raise the possibility that a lot of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy: Discussion (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: The experience so far in terms of the local authorities is that there has been a really disappointing uptake. I have spoken with people in my local authority and it seems there are a number of contributory factors. Some of it is lack of experience in the area. We might have to look at having a lead local authority to get the ball rolling and set out the model. I presume there is some...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy: Discussion (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy: Discussion (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Chairman.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Strategy: Discussion (13 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank Dr. O'Grady. My next question is for Ms Ward. I am interested in the ESB's Dingle Project and the experience of EV usage in a rural area. Members will be interested to hear about that experience. We know from the statistics that a lot of EVs are ending up in urban areas, which is the nature of these things. One of the factors is that there are alternative modes of public...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Emergency Departments (12 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: 103. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on his engagement with the HSE in relation the future of the emergency department in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan; if he will commit to bringing forward proposals to protect and enhance emergency and critical services at the hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37458/22]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Generation (12 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: 223. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if households that export renewable energy to the grid via microgeneration now receive payments for same from all electricity suppliers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37067/22]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (12 Jul 2022)

Darren O'Rourke: 224. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the total number of households that have installed solar photovoltaic panels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37068/22]