Results 1,701-1,720 of 28,190 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: May I just mention one thing? With all this, and I do not disagree with the Deputy, there is the commercial decision of the airline as well. All our airports need to be hungry for business and need to go after airlines for business and put together what are very clear advantages about Shannon, Cork and other airports around accessibility and, particularly, where visitors to Ireland actually...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I have the Department of Transport and the Department of Energy, Climate and the Environment. We want more renewables, including more onshore renewables, offshore, more onshore wind, onshore solar and so on, and we are doing well as a country in that regard. Some 40% of our electricity last year was generated from renewable energy, so we are going in the right direction. We need to get to...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I recall the Deputy making that point to the Dáil. He is right to highlight the safety measures that underpin the law and the spirit of the law. I offer my condolences to the him on the terrible tragedy that occurred to his mother-in-law. Any road death is one too many. This is a job we all have to do. We have this law for a reason. I do not envisage changing it. Notwithstanding...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The opening day of the Brian Boru Bridge was a fantastic day in Killaloe. The Chairman will know it was a very important day. I again commend everyone involved in the project. It is absolutely superb. It will make a big difference and not just at the bypass. On phase 2 of the Limerick northern distributor road, I will engage with officials. Mr. Doocey here is scribbling away furiously.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Nílim cinnte faoi sin. As the Deputy rightly said, a section is currently under construction. The issue has been that the transport strategy for Limerick did not include a full distributor road across the north of the city. I will look at the issue. This is a new Administration. I am honoured to be the new Minister in this Department. Obviously, we are constrained by the resources...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Chairman for the committee's interaction with the RSA and for his comments. I got a lot of very positive feedback on the briefing the Department provided. At the very outset, I should have thanked my colleagues from the Department who are here with me today. Members found the briefing very useful. It was very detailed and practical to give new Members an opportunity to see what...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: It really did. On multiple licences, the Cathaoirleach is right. We have to get over this piece first. That is something that has been discussed with the new chair in relation to its work plan. We are going to look at how the RSA is going to be structured into the future. The road safety strategy will speak to that later this summer. There still needs to be a focus on NCT testing. I...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: That is a very good question. I have not. No project has come to me at this stage that people have said will be significantly over budget. I will check if there are and advise the Chair after the meeting just in case.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Chair for his engagement with me. It has been very constructive and he has been advocating very strongly on behalf of the region and not just his own constituents but beyond that. We expect the Cahir to Limerick business case by the end of this year. That is ahead of Cahir to Waterford but there are no issues with Cahir to Waterford. It will be done sequentially. We expect...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: No problem. I expect to be able to roll out free travel for five- to eight-year-olds in September this year. The issue of over-70 school drivers has to be dealt with. It does not sit directly in my Department. We need to engage further with the Department of education in that regard. There are people over 70 driving buses privately and then they cannot drive a bus to a school. We...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I was at the North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Armagh with the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Government colleagues last Friday. There was a sense and a feeling at the time that the judgment would be positive. There was great disappointment on both sides of the Border that the ruling was as it was and that, effectively, the project has been paused. It will be up to the Northern...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank the Chair. This was a useful engagement. I have taken his points on Local Link. We are to get a report. It might be useful for the answer for the Chair. The Local Link structure was under review for the previous programme for Government commitment. We received that report last year. We had decent engagement with the transport co-ordination units and the report, with...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: As TDs, who go around and talk to our constituents, we know, anecdotally, that the fare reductions have had an impact. That is not quantified. It is very difficult to assess that to say what level of increase in public transport users is attributable to fare reductions. The principle of an affordable, punctual, reliable and accessible service is important and that reliability piece is...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: That will be a controlled area in Dublin. It will be across bus, rail and Luas. It will be tested across the three different services. When I say rail, I am including DART and commuter rail. That is aimed for and is the best advice I have now. When the Deputy brought forward his Private Member's motion we discussed this at some length. That is the phase one piece of the in-use testing...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: That will follow in July. It will probably be the end of July. When I agree a final settlement on behalf of the Department of Transport, that will be an overall figure that we will transpose and will filter down into the Vote. By the time we see it, it is hoped in July, we will know the overall figure for the Department in capital and current funding, subject to us getting the agreement...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: They receive that from the Department of Transport.

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: Not to my current knowledge. I have been down in Adare and at many of our roads projects. I have gone down and visited the teams and been very impressed with what is being done there. BusConnects, by the way, will be critical. We will start one or maybe two of those projects. They will be going into construction this year. It is really significant because it will show that...

Select Committee on Transport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 31 - Transport (Revised) (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: This has not been raised directly with me yet. I welcome that the committee is meeting the road hauliers. For the next bilateral meeting we have at transport level, which will be in the autumn, it might be helpful, after the committee meets the hauliers, to write to me formally. I will raise it. There is a certain process to getting things on the agenda at bilateral meetings. The...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Energy Infrastructure (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: In line with the Climate Action Plan (action EL/24/16), the Electricity Storage Policy Framework for Ireland was published by my Department in July 2024. Chapter four of the Policy Framework provides an overview of the existing safety and regulatory framework in place for grid scale electricity storage systems, including battery electricity storage systems in the European and Irish...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Renewable Energy Generation (25 Jun 2025)

Darragh O'Brien: The Solar PV for the Medically Vulnerable scheme was designed in 2022 and is operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) in conjunction with Energy Suppliers. It is a matter for each Energy Supplier whether to participate in the scheme or not and enter into a contract with the SEAI to provide the scheme to their customers. Each Energy Supplier is responsible for contacting...