Results 6,301-6,320 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Estimates for Public Services 2019: Referral to Select Committee (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I move:That Revised Estimates for the Public Services for the year ending 31st December, 2019, be presented to the Dáil and circulated to members and be referred to Select Committees, as appropriate, pursuant to Standing Orders 84A(3)(c) and 182(3).

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: An Post has undertaken a restructuring programme, under which there was an agreement with postmasters, as a result of which a number of post offices will close. It set out a protocol under which it seeks to maintain an adequate level of service and, as the Deputy observed, there is an independent review when post office closures occur. That is entirely independent of my responsibility...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I assure the Deputy that great care will be taken in evaluating the tender that was submitted on 18 September to provide a national broadband plan. As the Deputy knows, the Government regards the delivery of high-speed broadband to every home and premises in the country as a high priority. We recognise that the process, as a result of the findings of Mr. Peter Smyth, is robust. Concerns...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Hydraulic Fracturing Policy (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The National Mitigation Plan, published in July 2017, restates the Government’s commitment to move from a fossil fuel-based electricity system to a low-carbon power system. Investment in further renewable generation will be incentivised. The new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme, approved by government in July 2018, will provide for a renewable electricity ambition of 55% by...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Expenditure (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 467, 476 and 477 together. My Departmental remit includes complex policy areas, oversight of State regulation and service provision across key strategic services such as energy and public service broadcasting, as well as regulation of sectors such as mining and hydrocarbon exploration. Given the technical complexity, economic significance and community...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Health and Safety (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The National Smart Meter Programme is a meter replacement programme which will result in the upgrade of 2.4 million meters to modern, smart-ready technology. By 2020 it is expected that over 700 million smart meters will be installed globally. These new generation meters are being rolled out across Europe and internationally and when the upgrade completes in Ireland in 2024, all domestic and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Postal Codes (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: Eircodes are assigned to new property addresses using a valid postal address and verified geo-locations. An Post collects information on new and existing buildings, as well as changes to existing addresses and Ordnance Survey Ireland provides the geo-locations for these buildings. An Post GeoDirectory, issue a new release of the GeoDirectory database file on a quarterly basis to Capita...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan Implementation (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure that every home, school and business in Ireland - regardless of how remote or rural - has access to high speed broadband. This is being achieved through a combination of commercial investment across Ireland; and a State intervention in those areas, mostly rural, where commercial operators acting alone are unlikely to invest. There are just...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Generation (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: Details of the installed capacity of electricity generation plant for each of the dams are listed on the websites of the Transmission System Operator (TSO) and the Distribution System Operator (DSO) available at: www.eirgridgroup.com/ and www.esbnetworks.ie/ respectively. The installed capacity of the larger hydro plants is available in Appendix 2 (page 56) of the All-Island Generation...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electric Vehicles (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The majority of the existing network of publicly accessible charge points was rolled out by the ESB through its eCars programme. A real-time map showing the charge points, including the status and availability of the charge points, is available on the ESB's website at www.esb.ie/ecars. The management of these charge points is an operational matter for the ESB. The following table, provided to...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Generation (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I refer to the reply for Question No. 545 of the 18th December 2018. In addition, my Department is developing the new Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) the High Level Design of which was approved by Government in July 2018. It is expected that the first renewable electricity auctions will take place under RESS in 2019. The RESS will provide for a renewable electricity ambition...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Renewable Energy Generation (19 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I propose to take Questions Nos. 474 and 475 together. Information regarding the sources of electricity generation including biomass are publicly available in the report entitled Energy in Ireland, published by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) earlier this month and available on the their website at www.seai.ie. SEAI’s data shows that in 2017, approximately...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (18 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: As I indicated to Deputy Curran earlier, the position as of today is that, cumulatively, we will have missed our 2013 to 2020 targets by 5%. After the crash, we looked grand but once the recovery started, we began to go seriously off-track. The more worrying projection is that in 2020 we will be 95% off our targeted starting point. We will be 1% down on 2005 emissions; we were supposed to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (18 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: This is a tricky area. Teagasc has indicated that, potentially, there are 9 million tonnes in carbon reductions that could be achieve in agriculture. They have looked at better farming methods, sequestration through forestry and other methods, and biofuels. There is theoretical potential. It is about how we capture that potential. Deputy Neville is correct. The Irish beef sector is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (18 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy has raised a couple of points. He is absolutely right. The net figure was 17 million tonnes. That has been priced. We had credits already but we have also acquired credits. What we are going out into the market with now is not even 17 million tonnes' worth. The gap will get bigger in the future. The Deputy is right about commercial solar power. It is not solely about the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (18 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I do not want any misunderstanding. To be clear, I am not taking responsibility for delivery across all Departments. I have been given the job of developing a plan. In this case it will be about holding other Departments to account. It will be as much the Taoiseach's responsibility as my own to oversee delivery. I cannot go to every Department and tell them what to do. The Deputy is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Efficiency (18 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: An application by Dublin City Council to capture heat from the waste heat generated at the Dublin waste to energy plant and pipe it into homes and businesses in the Poolbeg, Ringsend and Docklands area of Dublin was successful in being approved for up to €20 million of support from the climate action fund. I understand up to 90MW of waste heat is produced at the Dublin waste...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Efficiency (18 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The climate action fund was an attempt to help bottom-up thinking to see what was possible. It is significant that two schemes which were successful were district heating schemes, the one in Dublin city with a figure of €20 million and the one in Tallaght in the area of South Dublin County Council with a figure of €4.5 million. It signals to me that there is potential in this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Efficiency (18 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I agree. Ultimately, I must be conscious of the cost effectiveness of the different measures which must enter into the calculation. I think it is 50:50 in these cases, where the State is putting in half of the funds, while the other half is raised elsewhere. We must look at the cost effectiveness of this and any subsequent heating project. I presume this project had an edge because the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (18 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: Under the 2009 effort sharing decision which put in place binding annual emissions targets for each year between 2013 and 2020 for sectors outside the EU emissions trading system, Ireland must achieve reductions of 20% relative to 2005 levels of emissions. The actual trends show that under the influence of the economic crash, Irish emissions were below target ceilings in the years 2013...