Results 6,101-6,120 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Disposal Charges (12 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: My Department is continuing the work of developing a mechanism to provide a support for vulnerable persons with a condition such as lifelong or long-term medical incontinence to help meet the average annual cost of disposing of their domestic waste. I am informed that this process has taken longer than envisaged, due to a number of issues, including data protection issues that have arisen...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Biofuel Obligation Scheme (12 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Biofuels Obligation Scheme, administered by the National Oil Reserves Agency, is the principal support for the uptake of biofuels in Ireland. The scheme was introduced in 2010 and requires suppliers of liquid road transport fuel to ensure that biofuels make up a certain percentage of annual fuel sales. It works on the basis of tradeable certificates with two certificates awarded per litre...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Food Wise 2025 Strategy (7 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: Under the EU Effort Sharing Regulation, Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions targets for 2021 to 2030 in the non-ETS sector can be represented in the form of a ‘carbon budget’ for emissions from relevant sectors of the economy, including transport, agriculture, buildings and waste. Potential approaches to the future setting of sectorial targets to enable the achievement...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Budgets (7 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: Government allocated €275 million in Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021 published in September 2015, for the initial years of the network build-out for the National Broadband Plan State intervention. The €275m represented an initial stimulus, in the knowledge that significant further funding will be required over the lifetime of the proposed 25...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Funding (7 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: The National Broadband Plan is one of the projects funded through the Capital allocation for my Department. Funding for the National Broadband Plan is allocated from the Communications subhead A.3. Section 91 of the Finance Act 2004 provides that a maximum of up to 10% of the total capital allocation of each Vote may be carried over to the following financial year, subject to the approval...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Budgets (7 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 212 to 214, inclusive, together. Detailed capital allocations for my Department, broken down by programme area and subhead, were published in the Revised Estimates Volume on 19th December 2018. The 2019 capital allocations (including €15m capital carryover) for the Communications, Energy and Environment & Waste Management Programme areas...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Telecommunications Infrastructure (7 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 215 and 216 together. 5G, as the fifth generation wireless technology, is still under development and is expected to be commercialised over the next few years. Roll-out of infrastructure to facilitate 5G services in Ireland is primarily a matter for private mobile network operators, operating on a commercial basis. I do not have statutory authority to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Staff Data (6 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: My Department currently has a total of 69 staff assigned to climate and related energy policy functions, across eight separate divisions. This staff complement has significant experience in developing and implementing climate and energy policy at international, EU, national, regional and local levels. In addition to its own staff, the Department also has access to scientific and technical...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Litter Pollution (6 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: Littering is first and foremost a matter of individual responsibility and compliance with the law. The primary remit of my Department in relation to littering is to provide the legislative framework, which is then managed and enforced principally by the Local Authorities. The latest figures available from my Department’s National Litter Pollution Monitoring System, a system designed...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Management (6 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: Under the Waste Management (Farm Plastics) Regulations, 2001, all companies that place farm film products on the Irish market are obliged to either:1. operate a deposit and refund scheme, collect, or arrange to collect, free of charge the farm plastics from their customers and register and report to their Local Authority; or, 2. participate in an approved farm plastics recycling scheme. There...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: EU Directives (6 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 172 and 173 together. Ireland has fully supported the ambition of the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment from the outset, including the 90% collection target contained in Article 9. Ireland tabled no amendments to Article 9 of the Proposal for a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Statutory Instruments (6 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: The government are committed to making Ireland a leader in responding to climate change. Transitioning to low carbon fuel sources is crucial to achieving that ambition. These new Peat Regulations will ensure that, for the first time, all commercial peat extraction in sites over 30 hectares will now be subject to licensing by the EPA, which will include a mandatory Environmental Impact...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Change Adaptation Plans (6 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 175 and 176 together. The government are committed to making Ireland a leader in responding to climate change. I am currently developing an all of government plan, with actions across all areas such as heat, electricity, transport and agriculture according to strict timelines. Transitioning to low carbon fuel sources is crucial to achieving our ambition. The...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Better Energy Homes Scheme Administration (6 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Better Energy Homes Scheme is administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department. As Minister I have no function in relation to registration of Contractors. SEAI administers and maintains a list of contractors who are registered to undertake works under the Better Energy Homes Scheme. Each registered contractor is required to undertake all...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Better Energy Homes Scheme Eligibility (6 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme is funded by my Department and administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). The scheme delivers a range of energy efficiency measures free of charge to low income households vulnerable to energy poverty. To date over 135,000 homes have received free upgrades under the scheme, leaving the occupants better able to afford to heat their...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: We have debated the issue of a digital safety commissioner at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment. It was agreed there that I would seek legal advice on the definition of "harmful material" because there is a category the committee wants to identify, harmful but not unlawful. There is no definition in the existing Bill and there are variants on...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Regulation (5 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I should outline very clearly that the Commission for Regulation of Utilities is an independent regulator. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities is independent of me as Minister and it sets its own processes for application forms, application fees, processes it will go through, guidance it provides for applicants and so on. It also is fair...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Regulation (5 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: The Senator knows as well as any of us that An Bord Pleanála makes decisions and does not engage in a process of toing and froing with public representatives or others. It has planning guidelines and seeks to implement them in the fairest way possible. I cannot shed any light on what difficulties are arising. The EU code states that each generational unit shall be compared with the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Landfill Sites (5 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: I understand that Kildare County Council has extended the deadline for submission of expressions of interest to tender to 14 February 2019. The extension was granted on foot of requests for more time made on the eTenders procurement website.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Service Provision (5 Feb 2019)

Richard Bruton: Under a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017, eir is in the process of passing 300,000 predominantly rural homes with high speed broadband. According to data for Q3 2018 submitted by eir to my Department the company has passed almost 210,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment. Information on eir's rural deployment is available on that...