Results 7,841-7,860 of 21,588 for speaker:Denis Naughten

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: I thank the Deputy. He is right and I understand his frustration. As the worst broadband speeds in Ireland are in Roscommon and east Galway, I understand exactly the frustration he is experiencing. As I said to Deputy Eamon Ó Cuív earlier, if we could provide high speed broadband for every home in Ireland on the back of a hare, it cannot come quickly enough as far as I am...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: I am disappointed that some local authorities are doing this and the Deputy might assist me in that regard. I would appreciate his assistance and ask colleagues in the House to do it also. I am working with the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to exempt 4G antennae and other telecommunications infrastructure to fast-track the planning process to try to deploy this technology as quickly as...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): Energy Policy (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The strategy to combat energy poverty published in 2016 sets out the actions that will be taken between 2016 and 2019 to alleviate the burden of energy poverty on the most vulnerable in society. It focuses on a small number of high impact actions that will make a real difference to the lives of those living in energy poverty. In 2019 my Department...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): Climate Change Negotiations (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: We will be here for a while if we propose to take Questions Nos. 30, 33, 48 and 65 together.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): Climate Change Negotiations (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: I apologise, I am one question ahead of myself.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): Climate Change Negotiations (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, will hold its 23rd Conference of the Parties, COP 23, in Bonn, Germany, from 6 to 17 November 2017. This meeting will be the second since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, with negotiations since then focusing on developing the rule book necessary to give full effect to the Paris Agreement. I expect...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): Climate Change Negotiations (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: I agree with the Deputy that we are coming from a very difficult position. Over the previous decade, the money was not available to make the investments that were needed. The targets that were set for 2020 did not accurately reflect from where we were coming. Nevertheless, my focus is on ensuring we can not only achieve our 2030 targets but exceed them. Undoubtedly, we face a very...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): Climate Change Negotiations (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: The Government has renewed focus in this area. We had a full day discussion on the area of climate and related aspects and that will be reflected in the budget next week. We will roll out the renewable heat incentive scheme later this year which will have an impact not only in stimulating biomass but also making the forestry crop far more valuable. I met Coilte yesterday in regard to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: I propose to take Questions Nos. 31, 32, 43, 56 and 58 together.  The National Broadband Plan is about connecting people in towns and villages across Ireland to high speed broadband through a State led intervention and commercial investment. The State-led intervention is progressing, with my Department evaluating the bidders' submissions received...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: I have given a detailed outline on the current status of the procurement process in my responses to the priority questions on today's order paper. Additional information not given on the floor of the House The Deputy will be aware that this procurement process will select a bidder, or bidders, who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network to remote and rural...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: That is not true.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: Yes, Ireland is unique in European terms in respect of its dispersed population in that 38% of our population lives on 96% of the landmass of the country. A total of 27% of the population lives in villages of fewer than 50 homes whereas the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, average is 11%. Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the Internet who was here at the Dublin...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: Deputy Ó Cuív was the Minister in the Government that signed the national broadband scheme. Does he remember that?

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: It was a simple scheme. The day it went live, it was obsolete.

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions (Resumed): National Broadband Plan Implementation (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: The Deputy should listen to me. It was obsolete the day it went live. The problem is that there have been Ministers in the past who thought it was just as simple as that and we ended up with the disaster we have now. There are people around Ireland at the moment who are relying on the national broadband scheme and it is appalling. We are not even a decade down the road from that having...

Other Questions: North-South Interconnector (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Humphreys, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Doherty, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy English, have all spoken with me about this issue, particularly on...

Other Questions: North-South Interconnector (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: The works that are being proposed have a very lengthy lead-in time. We are trying to appoint someone to look at it. The design phase has not been agreed to. Deputy Cassells is correct that this does include the pylons on both sides of the Border. As he knows, we are still in the planning approval process in Northern Ireland, so we cannot go ahead with the design phase until we have a...

Other Questions: North-South Interconnector (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: To clarify, the 2012 Government policy statement states that the Government does not seek to direct Eirgrid, ESB Networks or any other infrastructure developers to particular sites, routes or technologies. That was adopted by my predecessors, not by me. I am working within the confines of the rules that were laid down in the process and had been laid down long before I came in. I want to...

Priority Questions: National Mitigation Plan (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: In a 4% to 6% range.

Priority Questions: National Mitigation Plan (4 Oct 2017)

Denis Naughten: The Deputy had an initial statistical point. The previous EPA projection indicated that emissions would be between 6% and 11% below 2005 levels. The target is a 20% reduction. I am saying the projection is now worse as the current figures from April 2017 indicate that the range will be between 4% and 6% below 2005 levels. I wish they were between 6% and 11% as that would be a far more...