Results 14,601-14,620 of 15,491 for speaker:Eamon Gilmore

Written Answers — Decentralisation Programme: Decentralisation Programme (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: Question 519: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of persons within each unit or State agency of his Department who have opted to move to the proposed new location for their unit; the number of other Dublin based employees of his Department who have opted to move to one of the decentralising units within his Department; the number of persons who...

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: I thank the Fine Gael Party for facilitating me by allowing me to make my contribution now as I will be unable to attend the debate later. I welcome the Bill and congratulate the Green Party for introducing it. The Labour Party will support this Bill in the division. I am disappointed by the negative response from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It was in line...

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: Collectively, the rest of the European Union is going in the right direction. The 15 pre-accession EU states are 5% under the 1990 target, while the 25 member states are 7% under the 1990 target. Ireland, under this Government, is 25% above the 1990 target. Currently, under this Administration, there does not appear to be any hope that we will reach the target. All the Government intends to...

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The Minister has stated that he will publish a review document shortly. He continued by stating there would be consultation on the document.

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The Minister also declared his intention to publish a revised climate change strategy. He stated, "by the time I publish a revised climate change strategy, the way forward may have been clarified, though this process is likely to take considerable time".

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: This was not a reference to what might be agreed at the Montreal meeting. The Minister referred to the clarification that will take place on a wet Friday, sometime between now and the middle of 2007, in every primary school in the country. While we heard claptrap from the Minister about the urgency of the issue of climate change and how concerned he is about the dangers, effectively the...

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The Government will leave an enormous heap of carbon and pollution behind it.

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The Government is doing to the environment what it did to the economy in 1977, when it made a mess of it, blamed other people and attempted to re-write history.

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The national climate change strategy was published just over five years ago. At the beginning of the plain guide version, we are told that we face a grim future unless we change. The plain guide goes on to tell us that the national climate change strategy turns the Kyoto Agreement into a programme for action. I should mention that the national climate change strategy was published in 2000,...

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The massive bill to the taxpayer is made all the more painful when one considers the announcement in the autumn by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, to provide €115 million funding for renewable energy projects over 15 years.

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The European Environment Agency, on the other hand, is quite prepared to face the reality of the worst case scenario and it seems that in terms of performance regarding the Kyoto Protocol, Ireland is the worst case scenario. According to a new European Environment Agency report, The European environment — State and outlook 2005, Ireland is now ranked the bottom of the European environment...

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: ——but also in respect of ozone, municipal waste and acidifying substances.

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The report is blunt about the wider implications of the failure to curb carbon emissions and warns that extreme weather will lead to loss of life and lifestyle as well as to severe economic problems on a global scale. When a team ends up at the bottom of the league table, has been consistently at the bottom over a long period——

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: ——and is losing matches and getting red cards from the European Commission——

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: ——regarding all kinds of environmental matters——

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: ——the manager's position comes into focus.

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The Minister's time is up. Since 1980, 64% of catastrophic events have been attributable to weather and climate extremes. The European Environment Agency report singles Ireland out for comment on carbon emissions, stating that we face a major challenge if we are to meet our Kyoto Protocol limit of 13% above our 1990 level. This holds true in the week that the parties to the protocol meet in...

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: An opportunity presented itself to build these dwellings in an energy-efficient way.

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: The European directive on the energy performance of buildings, which will introduce the energy labelling of buildings, is supposed to be implemented on 1 January 2006, but the Government is looking for a derogation in respect of it. It wants three more years, in which it will build more dwellings with nine-inch cavity blocks to a standard that will cause expense and grief to those who buy...

Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage. (29 Nov 2005)

Eamon Gilmore: It is wrong to look at the Kyoto Protocol targets and the issue of the climate change strategy in a negative way. They would provide a great opportunity for this country if we had a Government with the imagination and will to act upon them. I refer to the opportunity and challenge to become self-sufficient in energy production, to change our agricultural focus from the production of food to...