Results 4,681-4,700 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte
- Written Answers — Inland Fisheries: Inland Fisheries (6 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I believe stakeholder involvement is crucial to ensure the conservation of our salmon stocks. In that context Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) operated a successful pilot scheme in 2011 whereby funds were made available to angling clubs and voluntary organisations for projects to facilitate the rehabilitation of salmon stocks. The scheme has proven to enhance habitat, knowledge and ultimately...
- Written Answers — Electricity Supply: Electricity Supply (6 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: ESB is an independent commercial State body and the matter referred to by the Deputy arises from ESB operational matters in which I have no function.
- Written Answers — Broadcasting Services: Broadcasting Services (6 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The management of the radio spectrum is a statutory function of the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) under the Communications Regulation Act 2002. ComReg believes that the 70% of population coverage requirement is sufficient to ensure that cherry picking solely of high-density urban areas could not occur. It is also modest enough to avoid the duplication of build-out in low...
- Budget Statement 2012 (6 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Deputy is speaking to yesterday's statements.
- Written Answers — Broadcasting Services: Broadcasting Services (1 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: RTÃ is an independent national public service broadcaster whose remit and obligations are set out in the Broadcasting Act 2009. Section 114 (1) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 states the principal objects and associated powers of RTÃ and Section 98 provides that it shall be independent in the pursuance of these objects, subject to the requirements of the Act. As such I, as Minister, have no...
- Written Answers — Energy Conservation: Energy Conservation (1 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Programme for Government includes a commitment to roll out a Pay-As-You-Save (PAYS) energy retrofit scheme after 2013. Such a scheme would substitute Exchequer funding currently being provided to the Better Energy Programme. The PAYS concept is an innovative financing mechanism that would allow consumers to finance upgrades directly through the energy savings generated. My Department...
- Written Answers — National Postcode System: National Postcode System (1 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The procurement process to select an organisation to implement a National Postcode System was launched in January 2011 with the publication of a pre-qualification Questionnaire on www.etenders.gov.ie. This process is still ongoing. The final decision to proceed with implementation of a national postcode will be one for Government and will be based on appropriate financial, technical and...
- Written Answers — Exploration Licences: Exploration Licences (1 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: Petroleum exploration in Ireland, in common with most other jurisdictions, is carried out by private enterprise under licence from the State. Petroleum exploration authorisations are issued under the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act 1960 and the operational framework is set out in the Licensing Terms for Oil and Gas Exploration, Development & Production 2007. I am aware that...
- Written Answers — Alternative Energy Projects: Alternative Energy Projects (1 Dec 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: My Department has recently received State Aid clearance in respect of the REFIT (Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff) for electricity from biomass technologies including Anaerobic Digestion. Government approval is currently being sought to open the scheme and once this has been obtained, the scheme will be formally launched and open for applications. ESB has been operating a micro-generation...
- Written Answers — Aquaculture Licences: Aquaculture Licences (30 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: In January of this year the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources issued an instruction to Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) to avoid the intensification of the Oyster Fishery until such time as Appropriate Assessments have been carried out in accordance with the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations, SI no 477 of 2011. Under those regulations, such...
- Written Answers — Electricity Generation: Electricity Generation (30 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) operates by guaranteeing minimum prices for electricity output from various categories of renewable technology over a 15 year period and is funded through the Public Service Obligation levy. Under Directive 2009/28/EC (the Renewable Energy Directive), Ireland has been set a legally binding target for renewable energy as a share of consumption by...
- Written Answers — Electricity Generation: Electricity Generation (30 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) operates by guaranteeing minimum prices for electricity output from various categories of renewable technology over a 15 year period and is funded from the Public Service Obligation levy. Electricity that is eligible for REFIT payments is exported metered generation as set out in Statutory Instrument 532 of 2010 and defined in section 4.2 of the...
- Written Answers — Electricity Generation: Electricity Generation (30 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Alternative Energy Requirement (AER) was a series of 6 competitive tender schemes to support new renewable generation that were run from the mid 1990s to the mid 2000s. AER was subsequently replaced by the feed in tariff scheme known as REFIT. At the time that State Aid clearance was being sought from the European Commission for REFIT 1 in 2007, DG Competition inserted a clause in the...
- Written Answers — Departmental Websites: Departmental Websites (30 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: My Department maintains the 11 websites that are listed in the table below. The total cost of maintaining these websites including technical maintenance, ongoing development and hosting charges from January 2011 to date, is â¬197,235. Site Name Average number of hits per month www.tellusborder.eu 275 www.mineralsireland.ie 1300 www.gsi.ie 13,700 www.gsishop.ie 350...
- Written Answers — Electricity Generation: Electricity Generation (30 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The 'Gate' process was established by the Commission for Energy Regulation following extensive public consultation. It is a group processing approach (GPA) towards the processing and issuance of grid connection offers to renewable generators whereby applications for connections are processed in batches rather than individually. Within these Gates, applications are further divided into...
- Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (30 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) are a "middle mile" solution meaning that they provide the network connection between the local access delivered in towns by service providers and national backhaul networks, which carry the traffic from the MANs to the central points of international connectivity. In the case of the Skibbereen MAN, e|net (the Management Service Entity for the MANs) has...
- Written Answers — Disposal of State Assets: Disposal of State Assets (29 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The EU/IMF Programme for Ireland contains a commitment that the Government will outline methods to raise funds through disposals of State owned assets. The Programme for Government includes a commitment to finance investment in specific areas of economic infrastructure from the proceeds of the sale of certain non-strategic State Assets. The Government has already demonstrated its commitment...
- Written Answers — Natural Gas Grid: Natural Gas Grid (29 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which is a statutory, independent body, has, since 2002, been charged with all aspects of the assessment and licensing of prospective operators who wish to develop and/or operate a gas distribution system within the State under the Gas (Interim) (Regulation) Act 2002. I have no direct statutory function in relation to the connection of towns to the...
- Written Answers — Electricity Generation: Electricity Generation (29 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 and 69 together. ESB has been operating a micro-generation feed-in-tariff scheme for the domestic sector for the past number of years, which has 387 customers signed up to date. The available tariff is 19c kWh, made up of a 10 cent kWh, tariff offered by ESB Networks and a 9 cent kWh, tariff offered by ESB Electric Ireland (formerly Customer Supply)....
- Written Answers — Electricity Generation: Electricity Generation (29 Nov 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 57 and 62 together. Offshore wind is a rapidly maturing technology worldwide however it is still not commercially viable at the open wholesale market price of electricity and is dependant on high public subsidies to underpin a developers financial business case. The electricity sector, including the renewable energy sector, operates in an open liberalised...