Results 1,761-1,780 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Appointments to State Boards (2 Dec 2014)

Alex White: As I have outlined in a number of replies to Parliamentary Questions, this Government almost immediately on establishment, made important changes in relation to appointments to State Boards with new arrangements widening the opportunity to participate on such Boards by extending a wide invitation for people to submit expressions of interest to serve on the boards of public bodies. In...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Departmental Meetings (26 Nov 2014)

Alex White: My department’s Management Advisory Committee (MAC) comprises of the Secretary General, four Assistant Secretaries, Finance Officer and Personnel Officer. The Private Secretary to the Secretary General acts as Secretary to the Committee. The Committee generally meets on a weekly basis. Dates of these meetings for the period covered by the Question are set out in the following table: ...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Electric Vehicle Grants (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: I propose to take Questions Nos. 545 and 546 together. The 2009 Renewable Energy Directive sets all Member States a binding target that at least 10% of the energy used in the transport sector must come from renewable sources by 2020. Ireland aims to meet this target mainly through the use of sustainable biofuels with electric vehicles also making a smaller contribution. The Electric Vehicle...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Postcode Implementation (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: A contract was signed by Capita Business Support Services Ireland Limited in December 2013 to develop and roll out the National Postcode System over a 10 year period. Total spend to date on that contract is €3.22m. Aside from the contract with Capita, the table below includes all consultancy costs from 2010 to date associated with the National Postcode System. Company Duration of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Irish Water Staff (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: I refer to Question No 242 of 13 November 2014 regarding employment terms and conditions of Ervia employees. As previously advised, the employment terms of Ervia employees, are an operational matter for the company. While this is not a matter in which I, as Minister, have a statutory role, my officials have examined the relevant records and I am advised that Ervia, or Bord Gáis at the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Postcode Implementation (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: Eircodes have been designed to manage challenges around finding addresses in Ireland, specifically the fact that more than 35% of addresses are non-unique. This is why the solution adopted will assign a unique seven digit alpha numeric identifier to each address. Using this approach to assigning codes does not support sequencing of individual codes as such a system is not future proofed in...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Legislative Measures (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: Available evidence to date shows that introducing measures such as outlined in the Deputy's question may not have any material impact in terms of preventing illegal activity. A proposal to register all customers of mobile phone services was considered previously by my Department. It was concluded at the time that such a proposal would be unlikely to solve the illegal and inappropriate use...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Alternative Energy Projects (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: While this is a matter in which I, as Minister, have no statutory function, I am aware that Electric Ireland has been offering a micro generation feed-in tariff since February 2009. I understand Electric Ireland will continue to offer the tariff to their existing customers until the end of 2015. To date, no other electricity supplier has chosen to provide such a tariff, to either domestic or...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Postcode Implementation (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: The Eircode is designed to help find relevant location and routing information and integrate with GPS devices and smartphones. It will also be mappable onto defined national boundary sets such as counties, electoral districts and small areas.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Expenditure (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: Following an open tender process, enet was appointed Concessionaire in July, 2004 for a 15 year term to manage, market, maintain and operate the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) constructed under Phase I of the MANs Programme on behalf of the State. In July 2009, following an open tender process, enet was awarded a separate 15 year contract to manage the MANs constructed under Phase II of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Prices (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: The Public Service Obligation (PSO) levy has been in place since 2001 and is the overall support mechanism for generation constructed for security of supply purposes, including peat generation, and for the development of renewable electricity. It is designed to compensate electricity suppliers for the additional costs they incur by purchasing electricity generated by these producers. The PSO...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: I propose to take Questions Nos. 555 to 558, inclusive, together. The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State-led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided....

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Departmental Contracts (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: My Department has no record of any contracts awarded to the company referred to in the Question in the period referred to by the Deputy, or in any of the years preceding that period for which records are available. Information relating to this issue in respect of bodies and agencies under the aegis of my Department is a matter for those organisations and my Department does not have the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: National Broadband Plan Implementation (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State-led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided. Yesterday, I launched a public consultation on a national high speed...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Irish Water Funding (25 Nov 2014)

Alex White: I am advised that Ervia’s current credit ratings are BBB+ (S&P) and Baa1 (Moody’s). I understand that Ervia issued a five year €500m Eurobond in November 2012 at a competitive coupon of 3.625%. The transaction received total orders of more than €6.5bn, demonstrating strong demand for Ervia debt issuance. No public bonds were issued by Ervia in 2013 or 2014....

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2014)

Alex White: Deputy Joe Higgins - who, in fairness, I have never witnessed in a similar situation over 30 years - now finds himself having to defend and support Deputy Paul Murphy. Why would we not include in legislation a provision to give people comfort in relation to privatisation, even though there is not a single Member of the House who supports privatisation, apparently?

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2014)

Alex White: Why would we not accept that the Irish people understand that a provision in legislation which is effectively a lock on any change in relation to Irish Water would be effective? It would be extremely effective. For people to say it lacks impact, effect or legality is wrong. While it is a new approach to have ministerial decisions contingent on the people's choice, what is wrong with that?...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2014)

Alex White: Is it not a democratic act? If the Members opposite do not trust Parliament, they think that legislation is akin to a promise. They put the two things on the same level.

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2014)

Alex White: They reduce legislation passed solemnly in the House to the idea of a promise. Their notion of democracy and democratic activity is a strange one. However, the Members opposite make one or two points with which no one could disagree. At one point Deputy Murphy said - he might not have intended to say it - that there is no free money. Indeed there is not; nor is there any possibility of...

Water Sector Reforms: Motion (Resumed) (20 Nov 2014)

Alex White: That is the sort of economy, democracy and society we should build.