Results 1,321-1,340 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am not aware of concerns being raised. In fact, the opposite is the case in my experience. I was on the west coast recently and met representatives of 14 tech companies. They were quite positive about what Ireland is trying to do from a climate perspective in terms of offshore renewables and the climate Bill. They want to be placed in countries that are seen as credible and progressive...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am glad the Deputy has asked that question. Data centres are, in my view, an essential part of any modern economy. We are a part of the European Union, which is going to build a new digital Single Market for digital services, which is a big part of decarbonisation. If you do not have to move around as much to do business, if you do not have to travel and can build more efficient...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: That assessment is in respect of grant aid. Data centres do not get grant aid. It is not relevant. The two issues are separate. We offer grant aid to companies to allow them expand or to come to Ireland in the first place. Last year, we had 240 new IDA projects. Some received grant aid and others did not. We do not offer grant aid to data centres. We can facilitate them but to do so...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: Other elements of projects can, of course, have support in terms of research and development grants and so on, but a data centre project itself does not get grant aid.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: There is a reason we put in place a clear statement on data centres last year. Concern was raised to which we needed to respond. We now have the principles for sustainable data centre development under six different headings, which are: economic impact; grid capacity and efficiency; renewables additionality; colocation or proximity with future-proof energy supply; decarbonised data centres...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I accept that. It is why a constant conversation is taking place between high energy use data centres, the companies that own them and the CRU about how they manage energy and how they can ensure there is demand flexibility when the State needs it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: What was the second area the Deputy mentioned?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: F-gases are the responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. They are not our responsibility. That is an easy and short answer for the Deputy. There was, and is, a plan in respect of alumina but it has stalled. This is all about one company, effectively. There are a whole series of other pressures in relation to Aughinish Alumina at the moment, which we are trying to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am told F-gases are not under the industry or commercial buildings sectoral ceilings. That does not mean they are not an issue. I am just saying I do not have a note on this today, but I can try to get one for the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I have an answer as to why I cannot really give the Deputy an answer, but if he has cases that he feels need to be raised, he should send them on to me for examination. I am not over the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland. It is the self-regulatory body for the advertising industry. If there is misleading advertising-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: If the Deputy can give me some examples, I can test whether they concern a CCPC issue or one for the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland. I will happily consider the examples if the Deputy sends them on to me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: What does it relate to?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: Making claims about doing things that they are not doing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: It might be helpful to the committee members to note a directive is currently being worked on by the commission, apparently empowering consumers regarding greenwashing. Our Department and the CCPC are involved in this space. I had not realised that until now. Maybe I can give the committee a note on it when we get a bit more detail from the commission. It is an important area if we are to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am not sure what the question is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am not aware of a conversation on district heating in my Department. To be fair, it would pertain to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications rather than the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I have certainly heard the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, talk about the energy efficiency of district heating, if...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: That is true, but while a significant amount of physical infrastructure required for district heating systems can be installed on day one, it is pretty expensive to retrofit. I am effectively talking off the top of my head on this. The straight answer to the Deputy's question is that we have not had a discussion on the issue. Ultimately, we are working with the Department of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I am not trying to be evasive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: Remote working is now a major consideration for most companies. I have been speaking to tech companies in the US, and it is a huge part of their business models. A number of companies had a management team for their headquarters in, say, San Francisco, management teams for other parts of the world and a management team for remote working across the US and in other parts of the world. In...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Feb 2023)

Simon Coveney: I thought the Deputy might say that. There are things we do successfully on a cross-Border basis to facilitate an all-island economy, but tax and residency rules around tax are a matter for the Department of Finance and would require both states to agree some form of facilitation. This would not be straightforward because it would be residency outside of the EU, even though technically in...