Results 461-480 of 1,773 for speaker:Lynn Boylan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: I thank Ms Sikow-Magny. Many of the questions have been answered, so I might just ask her to tease out some of the issues. Ms Sikow-Magny mentioned a revenue cap on wind projects. What will be the mechanism for auditing that? Will the energy owners have to report back to EU member states? Will there be any sanctions if they do not report? How exactly will that work? In her opening...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: To follow up on that, one of our big concerns is the increasing number of data centres that are applying for gas connections and that they will be islanded data centres. That is what is leading to the main increase in gas demand – it is new customers, so to speak, coming on. We have agreed to this 15% gas demand reduction but we are actually going in the opposite direction.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: I thank the Chair and all the speakers. I am going to pick up on a couple of questions that have already been asked. The first is to go back to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, and the capacity to administer the scheme. I am going to repeat what Deputy Smith was saying, that we have heard from the CRU around concerns about resources. In December 2022, noteworthy.iereported...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Is it not true the Irish suppliers would have hedged up until October or November, which is when the largest increase took place? The hedging would not have run out at that point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Yes, just to clarify that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: The hedging continued for October and November, which was when we saw the largest increases.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: That tees up nicely for Mr. Hagan to answer the question as to whether the CRU has the staff that it needs.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: So it will be external consultants. About 25% of CRU's budget is already spent on outside consultancy. We have seen it is very rare for the CRU to challenge requests from the transmission system operator, TSO, and the distribution system operators, DSOs, when they are looking for revenue. I am concerned it not going to be in-house expertise if it is going to be a case of more outside analysis.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Yes, on Irving Oil and how much it has influenced the design of the scheme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: I get that 100%. How much scrutiny was given to the threat that this would end the oil refinery in Cork? Was it verified or backed up, other than what we heard from the oil refinery? I am not accusing the Department of lobbying or capture, but such organisations definitely had an influence on the design of the scheme. The oil refinery said it would shut down if we go the way we are going...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Nobody wants to risk energy security. My concern is that there has been a lot of talk in the public domain about legal threats from energy companies, including the Irish Wind Farmers Association-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: -----which is supporting a European Court of Justice case. We have concerns. The committee has discussed the energy charter treaty and risks that it protects the current and future profits of energy companies. When we read in newspapers that companies are threatening legal action against the State for taking measures, I have real concerns about how much scrutiny we are putting into what...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Okay. That is fine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: On the capital expenditure deductions, will that be transparent? Will we have that data?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) Bill 2023 (18 Apr 2023)

Lynn Boylan: The Irish Wind Farmers Association wrote to the committee and stated that the Department and the Minister had failed to engage with it. The association made the point that there is scope for flexibility in the EU regulations to the effect that community windfarms do not have to have the same standard applied to them. Did the Department engage with the association? We only have its word.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Mar 2023)

Lynn Boylan: The ongoing issue of Ireland’s neutrality seems to be constantly in the news. It is being pushed by various commentators, including the usual suspects in government who seem to always be flagging the issue that we need to somehow change our approach towards something of which the Irish people are very proud, namely, our neutral status. There has been a systematic attempt to...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Mar 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Hear, hear.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Nature Restoration Law and Land Use Review: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Can I ask the Chair if I will be getting to speak at all?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Nature Restoration Law and Land Use Review: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Lynn Boylan: Senator Dooley should give that speech to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.