Results 6,501-6,520 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: Four climate action regional offices have been put in place and this will be part of their mandate. Each year, the SEAI encourages community-based initiatives. At present, it has a call out for such an initiative in respect of a mixture of schools, enterprises and homes. We will address this matter by finding clusters within our communities or across enterprises that can create the impetus...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I fully agree that we need to look at how this will impact different regions and areas and what we can do to respond to the challenges it creates. It will be around retraining, new opportunities, setting up enterprises, and seeding enterprise hubs. Some of the machinery for that is already in place. When I was Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Department had regional...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I would caution against having a stand-alone Minister with responsibility for nothing other than climate action. The process must be Government-led. The key to success is the amount of effort made put into the challenge by other Departments rather than the one with "Climate Action" in its title. That requires the authority coming from Cabinet and the Taoiseach, not from one individual...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: They are located on the Atlantic seaboard north, Atlantic seaboard south, the Dublin metropolitan region and the eastern and midlands region. The lead authorities are Mayo County Council, Cork County Council, Dublin City Council and Kildare County Council.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: That is a separate issue. We have to deliver something in December anyway.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The December document is a requirement of the European Union. We have to produce a draft energy and climate policy in December 2018 and a completed policy in December 2019. There is a one year window between the draft and the completion of the policy. I am working to a similar deadline to the Deputy and aim to have a whole-of-Government policy in place by February. What we submit to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: That is what would be helpful. It is a matter of setting an ambition that must be not only ambitious but also achievable and realistic. I do not expect the committee to go down to the granular level at which we will have to engage at cross-departmental level. Carbon tax is self-evident. As for forestry, again, we are well off the targets we have set ourselves, as I understand it. Bigger...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: That is very wise counsel. There is no doubt but that we will fail if we do not get communities to engage. Much of this is about people changing the way they travel, work and heat and insulate their homes and the choices they make in all kinds of lifestyle areas. To make this effective, one must be aware of the constraints with which people are living their lives. One cannot come in from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: It is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: There will not be big buckets of money to deliver it, though. That is-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: Yes. We must be creative.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I think Deputy Smith misunderstands the purpose of a carbon tax. It is not to raise money. A carbon tax is to ensure people pay for the carbon damage their activities cause. In an ideal world this carbon tax would eventually raise no funds. It is not a question of finding some profitable enterprise and raising funds from it. This is about getting people to change their attitude to how...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The truth is that we have to do all of the things that have been mentioned. We have to invest. The price of the fuel that is chosen is an important factor when encouraging people to invest in better energy systems. If we want to see more people using public transport, we must acknowledge that the price of the fuel they use in their private cars is part of what will determine their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: -----has been very successful where it has been applied.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The rainy day fund has been established for fiscal stability. It involves setting aside resources that are temporary in nature as a feature of the present stage of the economic cycle. I think that is a prudent approach to the public finances. The Senator will have read the comments of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, which has taken issue with the approach we are taking, even with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The guidelines for local authorities are for the adaptation. I do not know what date. I will have to come back to the committee with the date on which they will become effective. We are trying to come up with a set of policy instruments that we will start to implement in 2019 and will evolve. I do not have a list to hand but the purpose of this work is that together, we develop that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The new buildings directive came in under the energy performance of buildings directive of 2018. It aims to have all new buildings as near zero energy buildings by 2020. This predates my arrival in the Department. I do not know whether the buildings the Senator mentioned came in under that or what their energy specification is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: I do not have the answer to that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, reviews the criteria for grants. The warmer homes scheme applies and there was a three-year pilot scheme of 900 homes in a specific community healthcare organisation area, namely, CHO 7. It differed in that it was not just a grant. The HSE was also working on it to identify the clients and in so doing it secured a lower fall-off of people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Third Report of the Citizens' Assembly: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Dec 2018)

Richard Bruton: On the carbon tax, I am clear, as the Taoiseach is, that we need to have a trajectory of where the carbon tax will be in 2025 and in 2030 and a pathway to get there. The Taoiseach indicated that he was supportive of it, as was Deputy Eamon Ryan, the leader of the Green Party. The Taoiseach made the comment that it would be good if the committee as a whole reached consensus around a...