Results 3,921-3,940 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Road Projects (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I know the road like the back of my hand. I have been on it over the years, time in, time out. I absolutely understand the desire to see it upgraded and improved but we have to be upfront and honest with people. The prospects of getting funding for a completely new road are very slim and it is not in the existing NDP, unless that has changed. That does not mean we should not look at the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Transport (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. While safety and security on public transport is a top priority, antisocial behaviour is a wider societal issue impacting many sectors of society, as the events of last week showed. In response to the Deputy's specific question, I will begin by clarifying that neither Dublin Bus nor Go-Ahead Ireland employs private security personnel....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Transport (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: My understanding of debates in recent weeks was the suggestion being made was that there should be a separate policing force completely outside An Garda Síochána. My view, and that of the Department, is that An Garda Síochána is the appropriate body. Whether there is a specific unit in An Garda Síochána is a matter for its operations. There has been a...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Public Transport (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: There may be greater flexibility when An Garda Síochána can call on a range of resources to assist in incidents, the likes of which happened last week. I am not convinced that a completely separate public transport police service would necessarily provide greater cover. We need the flexibility to put in a variety of Garda resources. While Garda numbers are key, the use of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Chair and members of the committee for inviting me here as part of the enhanced climate governance and reporting processes that were put in place by the Climate Act 2021. This provision in the Act supports greater transparency and accountability in how we plan and deliver our climate action. This committee has a critical role in this process, in reviewing the latest...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: It is a corrective process. We have not yet gone to the Government and we are going to have to do so, which will happen before we break for Christmas. It will have to contain a variety of additional measures. It will not be significantly different from the 2023 plan, which was a significant step up, and in a number of sectors it is a matter of delivering what is committed to and promised....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I completely accept that. The scale of the challenge should not be underestimated. It is not an easy one. There are two or three things which will help. First, the governance structures we have are serving us. I refer to the CCAC, with its recommendations and review, and the back-up information provided by the EPA, SEAI and other entities that do the modelling for us. We have a good...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: No, but tens of thousands of people are employed in the companies associated with those data centres. The data centres are the core of their business. These are all cloud-based companies now. That the cloud-based companies are here is a significant reason for other investments coming here. We have been working with the companies on the basis that any new data centres will have to live...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: There are quite a few points and I will try to deal with them all. I will pick up on the two points on vehicles and retrofits as examples of where progress is possible. In both cases, we are ahead of target. Although I do not have the exact final figure, more than 37,000 houses will be retrofitted this year, which is ahead of what was planned. The low-interest loans which will kick in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: On data centres, it is an application of a range of different solutions. I will address the biggest concept in this regard. Let us say there is a weather system coming in over the Atlantic. Obviously, wind follows that across the Atlantic to the west coast of Ireland, the Irish Sea, the UK, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and so on. I can see a world evolving where data centres that are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: We will need both microgeneration and large-scale. It is interesting how things change. Had the Deputy asked me ten or 15 years ago whether I thought small-scale wind had a future, I would have said "Yes". Now, the answer is "Yes", but only in very isolated areas or certain inaccessible places where the wind is very strong. The reality is that larger turbines are so much more efficient...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: That is why Shaping our Electricity Future is the right plan because that points to where the new developments need to take place. It is grid led, not developer led. I do not think that is the developers' plan. They are not building a huge grid for the sake of it. They have actually pared back much of what their plans were. Ironically, in the Dáil Chamber a few weeks ago, TDs from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I will make one point with regard to the broad approach we are taking in coming back to the legislation, to which Deputy Whitmore is right to bring us back. One of the issues within the legislation under section 14A(1) is that this process needs also to deliver some specific responses in a variety of different sectoral areas. Rather than reading those out, if it is agreeable to the Chair,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: It will be a short note with the same speaking points I would have read out. With regard to ambition and the overall structure of where we are and where we are going, one of the key issues I alluded or referred to was that we had a real challenge with land use emissions, which are a significant part of our emissions. The challenge became apparent in the drafting of the Climate Action Plan...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: That is something we would have to do in the allocation of the black box. We could look at a mechanism to close the gap, depending on what that gap is, and that in itself may vary. The exact management of this will have to be worked out. As I said, it is an iterative process. At the very start or, if I recall rightly, even in the programme for Government back in 2020, we could see some of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: No one is saying 29%. That is if we do not go further.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: We have to go beyond. We have to go for 51% but we have to do so in a way that recognises that the science on what is happening in land use in particular is varying and the baseline changes. We have to have some flexibility on how we manage that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: I mentioned some of the additional measures we may look at such as rail freight. Some will be involved in delivering what we have committed to, such as the hydrogen strategy, which I do not think was published in the CAP 23. That is an example of a technological development. Another one is the role of food additives. I am now going away from my own sectoral emission areas a bit but that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan Review: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Nov 2023)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, as an example of a measure we will have to consider. That might become something we would look to incorporate in a revision of the second budget of the sectoral emissions ceilings which is from 2026 to 2030. There will be a process where we would assess those options and come to agreement on them in time for them to be set into the climate budget for 2026 onwards.