Results 61-80 of 29,554 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I think that will come in the budget in October.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I think the EPA is right to be concerned about anaerobic digestion because there are international examples where it has worsened environmental conditions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Therefore, we need to get it right and I think that can be done. What we do not want to see is a massive expansion, for example, in the pig or poultry industries, which would see this huge economic opportunity to use the slurry for anaerobic digestion, and then have consequential problems with ammonia or water quality. It can be done in a way that protects the environment and provides...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right that there are different baselines and targets. The EPA target relating to emissions targets is 42% by 2030. This is broken down into two compliance periods, namely 2021 to 2025 and 2026 to 2030. The EPA is predicting that in the first period we will have a 0.06 megaton gap. In truth the cost of that is very small. To a certain extent the cost depends on how many...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, but the Government also set up the infrastructure for the climate and nature fund. I do not believe there is another government in Europe or globally that has set aside part of what is, in effect, a sovereign wealth fund specifically earmarked for investment in climate and nature. That was very scientifically done in that we took into account some of the work of the task forces on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As Laura Burke, director general of the EPA said on "Morning Ireland" earlier, the gap is being closed. Continuing progress in that regard will include the use of, for example, anaerobic digesters. Anaerobic digestion was not contemplated by the existing modelling systems.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We are succeeding in a whole variety of different areas such as renovating our homes and delivering renewable power. I wish to put it back the other way. In the context of areas in which we have a challenge delivering up the scale of renewable energy, Deputy Murphy's own party colleagues in Dún Laoghaire are opposed to the development of offshore wind which is going to be one of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I have not seen the Bill. We will have to look at the legality of it to see if we can do it under the Chicago Convention, which may present real difficulties. It will not, as I said, do anything to close the gap we are discussing here today that we need to close. I will refer to the point Deputy Murphy made earlier. There are trade-offs. It is difficult. Sometimes decisions have to be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We can trade party-political attacks here. I remember Deputy Murphy's party being champions of the expansion of oil and gas exploration believing that it was the future of the country. I saw its posters claiming that we will have billions of euro.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I was there-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I was here in the Dáil-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I was here in the Dáil when Deputy Murphy was making that very case, that is, our future rested with fossil-fuel expansion at a time when, for the previous three decades, our party had been unique and singular in calling out the climate crisis for what it is. It is a threat to our children's future.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is somewhere where we do have to make fundamental changes for the better.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: This is all speculative. It is projecting what will be our gap. It is for the second half of this decade, not the first. The compliance cost depends on how other states perform, so it is very difficult to say. It is better to be upfront and honest and say it is not without a risk of being very significantly expensive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: First, a large number of data centres are already contracted and the Government does not reverse contracts. Those which already have planning permission, grid connection, or are already proceeding, will do so under the conditions that were set, but I am looking forward to how additional new data centres should operate. Just like in every sector, there is not an out on climate: they have to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: They will not be taking renewable energy that reduces its availability to homes. We will have a surplus of renewable power by the end of this decade of some 13 TWh. We need to find industrial applications where we can use that to the benefit of our people and our country. This summer the CRU will publish its guidelines on connections for large industry users, which includes data centres....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: If I could just make the point, first, we are very seriously constrained with data centres, not just because of carbon emissions but also because of the need for grid enhancement and development, in particular in the Dublin area where we currently do not have capacity to take on additional data centres, as well as the climate prerogative. What I am doing is working with the industry and with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, I am saying that new data centres-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion (28 May 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We will have to wait for the conclusion of the CRU process, which is the independent regulator of the sector.