Results 1,661-1,680 of 26,563 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Data Centres (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Government policy on data centres is articulated in the July 2022 ‘Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Ireland’s Enterprise Strategy’. The statement makes clear the Government’s preference for data centre developments that are decarbonised by design and can demonstrate the additionality of their renewable energy use in Ireland. It clearly states...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Management (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department welcomes the recent announcement that the Council presidency and European Parliament representatives reached a provisional agreement on the targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive with regard to food waste and textiles. It will set EU targets for food waste reduction by 2030 and introduce measures towards a more sustainable textile sector. I note that the agreement is...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: National Broadband Plan (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Government's initiative to deliver high speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland. The Programme for Government – Securing Ireland’s Future published in January 2025 sets a number of targets which include the completion of the infrastructure to allow access to a high-speed fibre broadband to 1.1 million people, including...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Pension Provisions (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I can confirm to the Deputy, further to Parliamentary Question No. 78 of 11 June 2024, that officials in my Department received correspondence from the legal representative of the persons concerned and the matter is under review.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Climate Action Plan (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: A full list of the members of the Delivery Board and its terms of reference are available on the CADB website at: www.gov.ie/en/publication/24f0c-climate-action-delivery-boar d/. Further information available on the website are the minutes of CADB meetings, as well as recent work undertaken to review climate action capacity in the civil service. Quarterly progress reports on the Climate...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 to 146, inclusive, 149, 150 to 154, inclusive, 160, 161, 164, 171, 186, 208 and 210 to 213, inclusive, together. As outlined in the Programme for Government, the Government is committed to taking decisive action to radically reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and to achieve a 51% reduction in emissions from 2018 to 2030, and to achieving net-zero...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Usage (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Gas Networks Ireland is a statutory public body under the aegis of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It owns, operates, develops and maintains the natural gas network in Ireland. Gas Networks Ireland has provided the following data table which includes:Historical gas demand by sector to 2024 inclusive.Forecast gas demand by sector for 2025 to 2029 inclusive. The...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Natural Gas Grid (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My officials have engaged with Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) and while forecasts are not available for each of the next 10 years, I am advised by GNI of the following information in relation to the estimated additional volume requirement of natural gas for electricity generation and data centres for each of the next 8 years: For the purposes of this Question, GNI have extracted data from their...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Telecommunications Services (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 155 and 156 together. I am aware of expected price increases by some broadband and mobile service providers in the coming weeks and months. The pricing levels set by telecommunications services providers are a matter for those providers operating in a fully liberalised market. However, providing better protection for consumers is a priority for the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Staff (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department has established procedures to ensure that all persons recruited to work in this Department are fully vetted before they are employed, either directly by staff of my Department in the case of roles filled through direct recruitment or through the Public Appointment Service (PAS), who conduct vetting as part of their centralised recruitment of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Schemes (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 158 and 159 together. The Warmer Homes Scheme aims to improve the energy efficiency and warmth of homes owned by people in energy poverty by providing fully-funded retrofits. The scheme is operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department and is funded through carbon tax receipts and the European Regional Development...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 162 and 207 together. The Department engaged CEPA (Cambridge Economic Policy Associates Ltd) in December 2024 to update their previous modelling which informed the Energy Security Package in 2023. The aim of this additional modelling is to update the analysis of security of supply in Ireland’s electricity and natural gas systems in 2035 and 2040,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My Department engaged CEPA (Cambridge Economic Policy Associates Ltd) in December 2024 to update their previous modelling which informed the Energy Security Package in 2023. The aim of this additional modelling is to update the analysis of security of supply in Ireland’s electricity and natural gas systems in 2035 and 2040, using the latest available data (previous analysis covered...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I propose to take Questions Nos. 165 and 166 together. In December 2022, Government approved a new Energy Poverty Action Plan. The Plan is available on gov.ie and sets out the range of measures implemented to meet high energy costs, as well as key longer-term measures, to ensure that those least able to afford these increased energy costs are supported and protected to adequately heat and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Climate Action Plan 2024 commits to achieving at least 5 gigawatts (GW) of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030. The Government's Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce is driving delivery of this objective. Our first offshore wind auction under the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme, ORESS 1, took place in 2023 and resulted in 3.1 GW of offshore wind capacity being contracted...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As set out in the 2021 'Policy Statement on Security of Electricity Supply', the development of new conventional gas fired generation is a national priority and should be permitted and supported. This will ensure security of electricity supply and support the growth of renewable electricity generation. Dispatchable generation, such as gas fired generation, is necessary to meet electricity...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Natural Gas Grid (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: My official have engaged with Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) in relation to the information sought and GNI has advised the following in relation to the gas demand of data centres and large industrial processes in 2024. It should be noted that, for the purposes of this Question, GNI define “Large industrial processes” as their Daily Metered and Large Daily Metered customers,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Grid (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As of 1 January 2025, the system operators, EirGrid and ESB Networks, report that 22 separate electricity storage systems with the capacity to provide over 1,048 MW of electricity storage are connected to the grid network. One pumped hydro storage facility, Turlough Hill Co. Wicklow, accounts for 292 MW of this capacity with the remaining 756 MW provided by 21 Stationary Battery Energy...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Conservation (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Climate Action Plan and National Retrofit Plan set ambitious targets to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a Building Energy Rating (BER) of B2/cost optimal and the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older, less efficient heating systems by end-2030. To promote and incentivise the achievement of these targets, the Government has put in place a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Energy Policy (19 Mar 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: On 17 November 2023, the Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Cap on Market Revenues) Act 2023 passed through the Houses of the Oireachtas and was signed into law by the President. In accordance with Council Regulation 2022/1854, the Act introduced a cap on market revenues from the sale of electricity produced from certain sources for the period beginning on 1 December 2022 and...