Results 561-580 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: As soon as the report is available on route-specific underground costings, both it and the cost of the overhead transmission will go out to public consultation. People will be able to compare one with the other and we will have the debate, hopefully in a calmer environment, about why it is necessary, howsoever we do it, to ensure that we have a grid in the country that is fit for purpose.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I think it took three years in the United States and was carried out by the US Environmental Protection Agency. It will take another year here anyway. Really it is a matter that our EPA is competent to answer. Perhaps the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will know but there is at least a year's work in it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: Thank you, Chairman, and I thank the members of the committee. As a matter of courtesy I should point out that one matter you spent some considerable time teasing through was the policy in respect of offshore exploration and so on. Arising from the committee's report we brought in consultants from outside the country, namely, Wood Mackenzie, to do a study for us. I have now taken that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: It is an important question, as it relates to the facility at Whitegate and Ireland's domestic needs as an island economy. There has been retrenchment in the refinery sector across Europe in recent times and a dramatic reversal in the past two or three years in stocks retained in the jurisdiction. We are required to maintain a 90 day supply of certain stocks in case of destruction of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I have heard a good deal of common ground. I come down on the side of Senator Brennan regarding the critical issue of having an infrastructure and transmission fit for purpose. Deputy McEntee mentioned, and it was probably at the back of everyone else's mind, the scale of the stepdown in economic activity and wondered whether we need to continue to invest in building out the grid. In...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: It has to do with the efficient delivery of electricity, which is the first consideration. It is also a cornerstone of the North's energy security policy. I was asked whether we could debate these issues at more leisure now than when we were in the red hot heat of the boom. The answer is "Yes", but I would strip out the North-South requirement as being an exception to that. We need to get...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Colreavy has covered considerable territory. I welcome his intention to make a written submission during the public consultation phase. In regard to empowering citizens on the energy question, the first major step in that regard is our decision to opt for a Green Paper, which allows interested parties, whether citizens, consumer organisations or business organisations, to set out,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I can reaffirm there are the close contacts and co-operation on LNG. We have to be careful to ensure we have diverse sources of supply. When one considers the crisis in Ukraine, depending on a single source for supply is not encouraging in terms of energy security and, therefore, it is important to develop indigenous resources, including renewables. LNG will also become an important aspect...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: It is a very interesting question which shows how forecasting can be such a difficult business. When people sat down in 2006 to prepare the White Paper of 2007, clearly, nobody foresaw the dramatic step-down in economic activity. Around 2006 we were on a knife-edge in terms of our capacity to meet demand and it was very fragile. The 19% reduction to which the Chairman refers is dramatic....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: Quite honestly, the last question is a six-marker, on which I do not have sufficient knowledge to give the Deputy an informed reply. It is a very big question as to whether, having deregulated prices and with gas prices about to be deregulated from 1 July, there is a need for a regulator. I would have thought our EU partners would be horrified at the suggestion there would not be a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I offer my apologies to the Chairman and members if they were kept waiting but I was at another engagement and did my best to extract myself.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: Green Paper on Energy Policy: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I doubt the veracity of that, Deputy Dooley. I am glad to be here to discuss the recently published Green Paper on energy policy. The many developments at national, EU and international level since the energy White Paper of 2007 make it timely to review our energy policy and to consider how best to shape it for the future. The context in which these discussions will take place is...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: The Government’s National Broadband Plan, which I published in August 2012, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses. This will be achieved by providing:- a policy and regulatory framework that assists in accelerating and incentivising commercial investment, and - a State-led...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Postal Services (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: An Post is statutorily required under the Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Act 2011 to provide a universal postal service. The Act charges the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), as the postal regulator, with the promotion of the development of the postal sector, particularly the availability of the universal postal service, the promotion of the interests of users...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Services Provision (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: Issues regarding problems with contracted broadband services are a matter, in the first instance, between an individual and their service provider. Failing a resolution an individual may wish to escalate any complaint to ComReg which offers an independent complaint handling procedure for customers of telecommunications service providers. Any issues pertaining to Dublin City Council are a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Usage (4 Jun 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: Smart metering marks a new development on the path towards greater consumer empowerment in the electricity supply and gas supply markets by allowing consumers to monitor their energy consumption in real time, thereby providing them with greater control over their energy bills. The National Smart Metering Programme is a central component of the Government’s strategy to enhance...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: EU Telecommunications and Energy Councils: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (28 May 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I am not dismissing anything. The Deputy is dismissing the planning process. Suppose we had the EPA study and it said the technology is perfectly safe, a developer came along and there was a project. It would have to go through the whole environmental impact assessment, including the impact on human life and the human impact. The hoops that have to be jumped through are extremely rigorous...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: EU Telecommunications and Energy Councils: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (28 May 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: I think the Department is extraordinarily sensitive in respect of this debate and that we have proceeded with great caution. The Government which preceded this one approved some very basic desk top studies, and no more than that. There has not been any fracking. We are engaged in examination and the environmental impact assessment which accompanies this measures the social impact as well...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: EU Telecommunications and Energy Councils: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (28 May 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: Is there too much focus on the needs of companies in respect of energy as compared to the focus on consumers? There is a reasonable balance. It is important that small and large energy users have access to energy as competitively priced as they can source because they give employment. Wearing their other hats, consumers are workers in these companies and it would be damaging to employment...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications: EU Telecommunications and Energy Councils: Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (28 May 2014)

Pat Rabbitte: If Deputy Michael Colreavy permits me, I will answer the question of Deputy McEntee first as she must leave the meeting. I have described the projects of common interest in the lingo of the Union. Each member state puts forward what it thinks are projects that qualify as projects of common interest. Then, the battle takes place to access funding. Even when it is designated a project of...