Results 14,261-14,280 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, we are. Critically, EirGrid and CRU are engaging first with industrial customers, which may have demand flexibility. As I said earlier, given that we have such a high level of renewables in our system, we are good at this type of demand management and balancing between variable demand and variable supply. The first people to turn to, therefore, are some of the large industrial users...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Infrastructure (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I will use another project as an example, the Greenlink interconnector, which the Deputy knows runs from near Great Island power station in Wexford to the UK. It is a similar 500 MW interconnector. My understanding is that its operators got planning permission and a foreshore licence in 2019. They applied for it and their final planning applications were just agreed this year. They expect...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Infrastructure (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The scale of change is beyond compare. Much of it will be offshore renewable power. In our case, it will be something like 35 GW of power in the next two decades at least. We are not alone in that. The UK is looking for a similar amount of power from its waters. Similarly, for the rest of north-west Europe, we are looking at up to 200 GW or 300 GW of offshore wind from the likes of the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Ireland is committed to concerted global action to address the climate crisis and engages in negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, and the Paris Agreement through its membership of the European Union. Ireland has actively engaged with its EU partners in preparation for the 26th meeting of COP in Glasgow, which takes place from 31 October to 12...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I have no intention of doing that but I will be honest that I see the key diplomatic issue in Glasgow as a slightly broader one. The real issue in Glasgow will be how we get agreement with the developing world in terms of a global response to climate action that is socially just. I will go proudly as a representative of a country that has lived up to its commitments, unlike other countries,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: We are in Government to try to change the system. We will work with the international system to make it work. We will work with other countries in the implementation of the Paris climate agreement and the global biodiversity conventions, which are equally important. In terms of systems not working, we have an ecological system crisis. That is why I go back to focusing on adaptation and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The programme for Government commits to expanding and incentivising microgeneration to help people generate renewable electricity for their own use and to sell excess electricity back to the grid. My Department outlined proposals for a new microgeneration support scheme in a public consultation that closed in February last. A summary report of the submissions received has been...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Many of the grant schemes we have in place are associated with higher BER standards. This is because, for example, if a building is not properly insulated, the use of a heat pump can be very wasteful. We want to incentivise retrofitting and to make sure there is efficiency in electricity use and in every other area first. There is always a desire to connect efficiency with any grant...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right. To go back to the just transition we were talking about earlier, no sector should be left behind. That is why there is a commitment in the Housing for All strategy, published two weeks ago, that we would put in place conditions, over a suitable time period to give landlords advance notice such that those rental properties would have to meet a rising BER standard so that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Infrastructure (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The Celtic interconnector is a €1 billion electricity interconnector jointly proposed by EirGrid and the French transmission system operator, RTÉ, Réseau de Transport d’Électricité. It is proposed to be a 575 km long 700 MW cable from the north-west coast of France to the south coast of Ireland, with 500 km of this being subsea. At this scale, it would be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: As I have said, I expect the Oireachtas committee, the House and stakeholders to be able to see these carbon budgets when the Climate Change Advisory Council delivers them at the end of this month or the first week in October at the latest and then very much to get engaged. On the alignment between economic, social and environmental objectives, the way the Bill was passed was to allow for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland's Enterprise Strategy 2018 acknowledged the role of data centres as part of the digital and communications infrastructure for many sectors of our economy. The statement also noted that data centres pose considerable challenges to the future planning and operation of Ireland’s power system. In 2020, data centres...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: There is no division in Government in policy terms on this issue. We all agree that meeting our climate targets has primacy. Every sector and industry is going to have to contribute to that. At the same time, as Deputy O'Rourke said in the previous question, we need economic and social balance. The digital industries we have in this country play a huge part in providing us with the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I do not believe we will have 50% of our power going to data centres. I do not believe the attention going to this one issue, and it is one we have to manage, is reflecting the real challenge. One of the challenges at present is that we need new backup generation to help manage not just data centres but also our use of electricity for transport, heat and a range of different areas. We have...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: Interventionist measures are required and the State is going to have to play a significant role to subsidise and support the retrofitting of social housing and the provision of the fuel allowance. We will have to use a sufficient amount of the carbon tax revenues we are going to raise to make sure that people are protected from fuel poverty, particularly in this time of rising international...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I agree with the Deputy and the Labour Party leader, Deputy Kelly, that we need to think long term. I also believe that the response to the climate challenges requires a politics of collaboration and co-operation. This is not an issue that should divide us. It is not a party political issue. It is an intergenerational issue but it is one we must tackle together. Probably the most...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: The recent IPCC report is an important statement on international science's understanding of the climate system and climate change. Its publication could not be more significant or timely. It details the increasingly dangerous future that is ahead of us unless action is taken by all of us now. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act, which was passed in July...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Change Policy (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I will make one comment on the point the Deputy made about the PSO and carbon tax. The PSO was always a protection, in a sense, against volatile markets. At times like this, when the price of gas is very high and the price of electricity is driven up, the PSO falls away and drops dramatically. The PSO is having the opposite effect. It is being taken out at the moment and that is reducing...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Electricity Generation (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I thank Deputy O'Rourke. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has statutory responsibility for monitoring and taking the measures necessary to ensure the security of electricity supply in Ireland. It is assisted in this statutory role by EirGrid, which is responsible for the day-to-day management of the electricity transmission system. CRU has advised me that it has...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Electricity Generation (16 Sep 2021)

Eamon Ryan: This is a complex situation. There is multi-annual complexity. We have to look forward to the next decade and beyond, but particularly to the next three to four years. Our expectation is now that we will not have outages this winter but we never know. There could be a power station breakdown, or something similar to the loss of the two large gas power stations that went offline early this...