Results 5,801-5,820 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte
- Prospecting Licences (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 and 25 together. While Ireland has recognised potential as a petroleum producing area, the Irish offshore is relatively underexplored. As a result, Ireland's petroleum potential is largely unproven. This is likely to continue to be the case until there is an increase in the level of Irish offshore exploration, exploration drilling in particular. Ireland...
- Prospecting Licences (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I do not have any knowledge of reported stories concerning the protests at the Corrib field but I agree with the Deputy that the allegations are unedifying. With regard to the tax regime as applying to offshore prospecting, it is true that a different regime existed up to 1987, when it was changed. The change occurred because the expectations from the early 1970s were, unfortunately, not...
- Prospecting Licences (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: Deputy Boyd Barrett only listened to half of the sentence. I stated that according to seismic data and available information, there is a "guesstimate" of 10 billion barrels out there. The problem is we have not found any of it. If Deputy Boyd Barrett can help us and point us in the right direction-----
- Prospecting Licences (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: -----I will join with him in reviewing the terms. We have not made the finds and in comparison to Norway, the strike rate in that country is beyond our wildest dreams. If a hole is drilled unsuccessfully in Norway, the state pays 70% of the cost, and if we were to do so here our financial position would be worse. What Deputy Boyd Barrett is not minded to accept is that what we are talking...
- Broadcasting Services (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The commitment in the programme for Government referred to in the question is in recognition of the pressures that the funding of both public service and commercial broadcasters has faced in recent years as a result of the serious decline in commercial revenues. Whereas this decline is primarily as a result of the impact of the recession over the past three years, revenues have also been...
- Broadcasting Services (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The rest of my prepared answer sought to deal with the Deputy's question. Section 124 of the Broadcasting Act requires the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, within three years of its enactment, namely, by the end of this year, to review the adequacy or otherwise of public funding to enable public service broadcasters to meet their public service objectives. In addition, section 158...
- Programmes for Government (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 28, 30, 40 and 241 together. Under the NewERA plan, the Government intends that the State companies concerned will make significant investments in key priority areas including energy networks, bioenergy, broadband, water and forestry. These investments will be commercially financed and will be off the Government balance sheet. The investments will also be...
- Programmes for Government (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: We are working together.
- Electricity Generation (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 29 and 34 together. I am informed there are 364 customers on the ESB microgeneration tariff to date, representing a total connected generation capacity of just in excess of 2 MW. The technologies being deployed are wind turbines, solar installations and small-scale hydro turbines. ESB Networks is currently processing 18 customer applications and these are...
- Electricity Generation (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I suspect Deputy Stanton knows more about the detail of this than I do and I am struggling to understand the barriers and obstacles to which he refers. For example, I am aware that the single electricity market price paid for electricity is approximately â¬60 per megawatt hour. The ESB pays microgenerators approximately three times this amount, that is, â¬190. Obviously, this is a...
- Electricity Generation (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Deputy may well have a point about the effectiveness of the marketing of the initiative but one should be struck by the number of correspondents who communicate with the Department about it. It would appear that there is a wider level of interest than there is of uptake and I am unsure why this is the case. There is regular e-mail traffic to the Department from individuals seeking...
- Departmental Expenditure (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The budget in my Department is set out in the Revised Estimates for public services 2011. The total gross Vote provision is â¬475 million, comprising â¬336 million for current expenditure and â¬139 million for capital expenditure. Of the gross current provision, a sum of â¬222 million relates to the Vote neutral broadcasting licence fee receipts. This is money which passes through the...
- Departmental Expenditure (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I agree with the Deputy. It is beyond dispute that the home efficiency home heating scheme has great merit. It ticks all the boxes in terms of energy efficiency and energy saving, making a contribution to meeting our carbon targets and, third but by no means least, job creation. Job application in that area is very significant at a time when there are so many unemployed workers in the...
- Departmental Expenditure (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I agree with the Deputy that they are the issues that require to be crystallised because the scheme is a good one. We have not touched on the issue of fuel poverty, which, unfortunately, is a growing difficulty in that area. This scheme, which is separate from the scheme administered by the local authorities, makes a significant contribution. In that regard, having welcomed the ESB's...
- Order of Business (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The Deputy's colleagues are good. It is he who creates the problem.
- Order of Business (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I hear there is a split. Is there a split?
- Written Answers — Fuel Poverty: Fuel Poverty (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 39 together. In line with the Programme for Government, I am working with my colleagues the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to bring forward the proposed strategy to tackle energy poverty. Considerable work has already been undertaken by the Inter-Departmental/Agency Group on Affordable...
- Written Answers — Energy Prices: Energy Prices (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I have no statutory function in the setting of energy prices, whether in the regulated or non-regulated sector. Responsibility for the regulation of the electricity and gas markets is a matter for the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER), which is an independent statutory body. The electricity retail market is now fully deregulated as of 4 April and the CER are engaged in progressive...
- Written Answers — Telecommunications Services: Telecommunications Services (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband services, is a matter in the first instance for private sector service providers operating in a liberalised market regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). The telecommunications market in Ireland has been fully liberalised since 1999 and, since then, has seen the steady growth and development of...
- Written Answers — Tribunals of Inquiry: Tribunals of Inquiry (5 Apr 2011)
Pat Rabbitte: I propose to take Questions Nos. 36 and 42 together. I did not receive an advance copy of the Moriarty Report. I set out in some detail my comments in the course of the debate in this House last week. In my initial speech in the Debate I accepted that the Tribunal did make criticisms of the process and its administration by the then Department. The Tribunal did refer to systemic failures...