Results 901-920 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Yes. We have further complexities which are going to have to be ironed out early next year. We also have a black box of unallocated emissions which we need to reduce from other sectors from other new activity. To go back to what Deputy Bruton said, the complexity of this is sometimes challenging. Our land use emissions are not helping us at the present time. They are making it harder to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Agriculture is slightly different because in that sector we are able to count. It is not just about carbon dioxide but also nitrous oxides. Last year, the headline figure I gave was a reduction of approximately 4.6%. A lot of that was accounted for by the fact that our use of fossil-based synthetic fertilisers had significantly reduced - by approximately 30% - over the previous two years....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The science around land use emissions keeps changing in terms of our understanding of what the best estimate from scientists is, the impact of our use of wetlands, the nature of our forestry system and the land use impacts of what we are doing. There have been some positive developments in the scientific understanding in that we did not have as much drained land as we thought, which helped...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In which report?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I do not know why the EPA did not include that. Maybe my official, Mr. Marc Kierans, is able to address that point.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: No. In fact, in land use, our emissions are becoming-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: No. That was not the reason for our 6.8% reduction last year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It was primarily down to the changes in power generation and in the residential, agriculture and industrial sectors. Those are the sectors in which we saw real reductions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I may let my official, Mr. Marc Kierans, speak to that point because it is quite a technical issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: There are many different accounts and timelines to measure from. Should it be measured from 1990, 2005 or 2018? This Government sets its targets from 2018 because that was the most recent year in which information was available, on the establishment of the Government, on the drafting of the climate law. Going back to what I said earlier, in the end, we are best to always rely on EPA data,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We are looking at that legal interpretation. People will have various views on that. It is not certain. There are other arguments that it is necessary and that the Act does not specifically mandate a sectorial target in each area per se. There has been a change and we have been upfront in saying that in this committee and elsewhere. That was because the facts changed. I am not talking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I was glad to be quoted earlier this week in a news article in the Financial Times, in which I said we must ensure data centres live within the really strict climate limits we all must live within. Interestingly, this summer I attended an informal meeting of the EU Environment Council, at which the best international scientists, including those from the IPCC, outlined their assessment that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It went through the Cabinet yesterday and it will go to the Oireachtas next. Once it is approved there, it will be operational. I believe our Department did a really good job. There must have been 25 officials working full time on this for the past year. It was really extensive. We had something like 70 public consultation engagements. I was in Kilmore Quay earlier this summer meeting...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: My instincts tell me they should be on both. We should look to develop in both waters because they have different characteristics. Under phase 2 of its DMAP, where we are going off the Waterford-Wexford coast is quite advanced in that the waters are probably deeper than those where any existing fixed-bottom offshore wind farm has been built to date. We are already heading into cutting-edge...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Regarding marine protected areas, I regret that the legislation has not been published. I expect it to be in the coming weeks and it can and should be enacted in the lifetime of this Government, although that depends on how long the Government goes. I agree it is regrettable that the legislation has not been delivered. This has been due to a series of complex legal issues between three...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It is not a strategic priority for this Government, or I believe for the next Government-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: As I said, the Planning and Development Bill has to go through its process. What final text, wording or amendments are debated or discussed is not under my remit. One thing I have been clear on right from the start in this issue of how we provide energy security for our people is that it is not in any way warranted to see the development of a commercial LNG facility that is not in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The Senator raised three issues. First, with regard to data centres, the issue about connection applies there more than anything else and will be set out by the publication next month in the CRU's large energy users connections policy. That will set out some of the criteria we seek to apply. It is not just writing to GNI. I have had very extensive meetings with the Irish companies that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of the Climate Action Plan: Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications (19 Sep 2024)

Eamon Ryan: That is a separate issue. That is an agreement I found universally accepted with the industry that wants to build these data centres as well as it being my own view. Second, with regard to the mandate and the land use review, we are looking at the role of public lands across all objectives and it is multicriteria, such as restoration of nature as well as improving water quality and, more...