Results 6,021-6,040 of 21,588 for speaker:Denis Naughten

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Administration (9 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: Bidders wishing to participate in the ongoing NBP procurement process had to pre-qualify in order to participate in that process. Only those bidders that could demonstrate they had the necessary economic and financial standing, together with the required technical and professional capability, were allowed to participate in the procurement.  I understand from my Department that the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Ministerial Communications (9 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: My Department's policy document 'Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policies for All Staff for E-Mail, Internet/Intranet & Computer Usage' sets out the basis for using ICT equipment and services in the Department.  The Department's policy is that personal email accounts should not be used for official business as the Department provides...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Official Engagements (9 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I did not attend the Ryder Cup. My officials did not attend the Ryder Cup in an official capacity.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Tyre Disposal (4 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: In 2017, I made available funding of €1m to local authorities to deal with the clean-up of existing stockpiles of tyres across the country. I did this to support the introduction of a new compliance scheme for tyres and waste tyres from 1 October 2017. At that time, I also indicated that I would look at the issue of tyres on farms. I followed through on that commitment by recently...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Heat Incentive (4 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Support Scheme for Renewable Heat has been developed to financially support the adoption of renewable heating systems by commercial, industrial, agricultural, district heating and other non-domestic heat users not covered by the EU Emissions Trading System. The first phase of the scheme, an installation grant for heat pumps, opened for applications on 12 September 2018. This phase...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Disposal Charges (4 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: My Department is continuing the work of developing a mechanism to provide a €75 support for persons with lifelong or long-term medical incontinence to help meet the average annual cost of disposing of medical incontinence products. This process has unfortunately taken longer than envisaged, due to data protection issues that have arisen since the introduction of GDPR. However, I can...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: The premises referred to by the Deputy are in the AMBER area on the High Speed Broadband Map which is available on my Department's website at . They are therefore included in the State Intervention Area under the National Broadband Plan (NBP). My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company who will roll out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Data (4 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: In April 2017 I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at . This map shows the areas targeted by commercial operators to provide high speed broadband services and the areas that will be included in the State Intervention Area under the National Broadband Plan. The Map is colour coded and searchable by address/eircode: - The AMBER areas represent the target areas...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Management (3 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: The processing of rigid plastics, including separation and segregation, continues to improve across the industry. More recently, major investment in advanced optical separators by significant processors has improved the separation of black rigid plastics enhancing the potential for ultimate recycling of this material. The processing industry is also actively collaborating with the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Heat Incentive (3 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: The Support Scheme for Renewable Heat has been developed to financially support the adoption of renewable heating systems by commercial, industrial, agricultural, district heating and other non-domestic heat users not covered by the EU Emissions Trading System.   The first phase of the scheme, an installation grant for heat pumps, opened for applications on 12 September...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (3 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: In recognition of the economic benefits that data centres can bring to Ireland, the Government published a national policy statement on the strategic importance of data centres as part of Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy in July 2018. The Policy Statement strengthens the Strategic Policy Framework around the development of data centres in Ireland while taking account of wider energy...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (3 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: In July 2018, I announced details of a new pilot scheme to support micro generation, initially targeting solar PV, homeowners and self-consumption. The data gathered during the pilot scheme will inform potential future phases of support for micro-generation in Ireland that may be appropriate, as we align with the ambition and requirements of the recast...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I thank the Chair and the committee for inviting me this afternoon and I welcome the opportunity to meet the committee to consider the mid-term expenditure position and performance across the six Vote programmes within my Department. I will keep my opening statement brief to allow the committee sufficient time to examine the programme expenditure to the outturn at the end of June. I am...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: On the national broadband plan, the expenditure relates to the required activities under each phase of the programme. Due to the complexity of the procurement process and the scale of the project, it can be difficult to accurately forecast the monthly expenditure on an annual basis. For example, expenditure on certain activities in a particular month or quarter may not be reflected until...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I understand that procurement documentation, which was issued to all bidders in 2016, sets out a mechanism for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment to assess and approve or reject any changes in the membership of the bidders. It is appropriate for such a mechanism to be put in place for a procurement process of this scale and duration. I have been advised that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I have had a number of discussions with David McCourt about this project. There was a discussion in New York. I am not privy to the exact detail of that at the moment. We can get the detail for the Deputy. A full minute is available and we can furnish it to the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I met Mr. McCourt and his brother Frank in New York in July. I am aware that the Deputy, and many other Members here, have met with Mr. McCourt at different stages. The only issue raised in relation to the consortium was with regard to SSE. At that discussion Mr. McCourt made the point that a request may be put into the Department for an evaluation around a change in the consortium. That...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: Not at all because it is not a functional role for me and at no stage have I ever given any indication regarding anything like that. I have no input or role in that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: I have confidence in the procurement process. It has been long, detailed and frustratingly slow, particularly for the 543,000 families, businesses, farms and schools across the country that have been waiting on high-speed broadband. All of these matters are part of the evaluation that is ongoing at the moment, and I am not going to comment on the detail of that evaluation. It is taking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Denis Naughten: As I have said on numerous occasions in the House and at this committee, this is not a normal tender or procurement process. I have explained that in detail. This is a competitive dialogue procurement process. It is unusual in an Irish context to have such a process. It is unusual to have such a large project here. A competitive dialogue procurement process is the only type of...