Results 12,601-12,620 of 18,851 for speaker:Fergus O'Dowd

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: Yes.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: No.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: As I understand it, all bonds that are necessary and all legal liabilities will attach fully and clearly. If it is helpful, I can get the specific documentation relating to that for the Deputy in advance of Report Stage. It is critical that there are no cowboys here. If there are, the system whereby liability will attach to that must be clear.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: The local authorities will have service level agreements with Irish Water regarding the services they will provide. The actual physical metering, which is what the Deputy is talking about, will be done by pre-qualified local contractors. The 25% minimum requirement that I mentioned earlier comprises the minimum of 10% who must come from the SME sector, the minimum of 10% who must come from...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: There are number of issues to be addressed, but I will deal first with the issue raised by Deputy Stanley. He is quite right that the solution to the appalling waste of resources, with 42% of water wasted, is to deal with that. The best way to deal with it is to improve the mains network where possible. On the customer side, we must also ensure there are no leaks between the mains and the...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: Approximately €200 million will come from commercial water rates.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: Bord Gáis is under the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. I will ask that Department to issue a reply to Deputy Cowen's question on the sale of parts of the company. The plan for the future of water and the water services investment programme, which is available to the Oireachtas as a document, sets out the future needs so we can compute a costed programme....

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: I thank the Deputies for their comments. The Deputies are expressing concerns which many people have. However, the Bill is to amend existing legislation, which contains a definitive, authoritative statement that no water infrastructure can be owned privately. We are amending that Act. It is not appropriate at this stage to include this as an issue because it is already in the Act. There...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: The regulator, the CER, will have to examine all the plans of Irish Water, which will have the collective wisdom of all the local authorities and their disparate proposals. All these will have to go to Irish Water and be examined. It will have to consider a capital programme, as Deputy Cowen rightly pointed out, and add to it what needs to be done in five or ten years or whatever. All of...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: This legislation serves to give Irish Water the power to be incorporated as a company and to do the work of metering. All the other issues raised are important and one of those issues is in the Bill. There will be an annual report laid before the Oireachtas and it will be a matter for debate here. I agree with the points made on how significant water policy is and will continue to be. I...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: This amendment proposes that section 4, which deals with the performance of functions by the Commission for Energy Regulation, will not come into operation until after January 2014. We feel that these amendments are not appropriate in that the purpose of section 24 is to provide the commission with the necessary powers to prepare for the performance of regulatory functions and to advise the...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: We will be debating Government amendments later this afternoon that deal with the specific issue of poverty-proofing. I would be happy to address them at the appropriate time.

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: There will be amendments this afternoon that will deal with those specific issues. This amendment concerns the date the regulator will commence work from January 2014. However, the regulator has to commence work as soon as possible because he or she must advise on many other issues. If this amendment were accepted, then the regulator would be delayed in commencing work on time. I am happy...

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: There is a commitment in the programme for Government that arises from the memorandum of understanding between the previous Government and the troika. We are establishing Irish Water as a separate, independent, State-owned public water utility. We believe this will be more authoritative and definitive in terms of structures, meeting the different challenges and having clearly defined roles....

Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Select Sub-Committee on the Environment, Community and Local Government: Water Services Bill 2013: Committee Stage (27 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: There have been extensive consultations between the Departments of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and Public Expenditure and Reform. The objective of this section is to ensure the full economic interest in Irish Water remains in the State and, as such, the shares are invested in the Ministers for Finance and the Environment,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Exploration Licences (26 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: The monies received from companies holding licensing options in the past 3 years in respect of application and rental fees is a follows: 2010 €56,711 2011 €253,586 2012 €453,651 2013 €104,506 (to date) A licensing option may be granted for a period of up to three years. It is a preliminary authorisation and designed to allow companies assess the petroleum...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Exploration Licences (26 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: I wish to advise the Deputy that nine licensing options were granted to various companies over areas in the Porcupine Basin off the south west coast under the 2011 Atlantic Margin Licensing Round. Details of the authorisations granted together with a map showing the areas involved are available in the latest acreage report and concession map which is published on my Departments website and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Prospecting Licences (26 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: The three companies mentioned by the Deputy were awarded onshore Licensing Options in February 2011 for a period of two years from 1 March 2011 to 28 February 2013. While applications for petroleum prospecting licences were submitted by the three companies, no such authorisations were granted due to the limited nature of the work programmes to be carried out under the licensing options.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Hydraulic Fracturing Policy (26 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 128 together. I have made it clear on a number of occasions that any application for an exploration licence that proposed the use of hydraulic fracturing as part of an unconventional gas exploration programme would be subject to a full environmental impact assessment. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) entails consideration of the potential...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Exploration Licences (26 Feb 2013)

Fergus O'Dowd: I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 and 142 together. The Aarhus Convention, which is implemented through the Public Participation Directive, obliges the State to adopt all measures necessary to ensure that, before consent is given, projects likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue, inter alia, of their nature, size or location are made subject to an assessment with...