Results 1,901-1,920 of 9,393 for speaker:Alex White

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Renewable Energy Projects (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The development of Ireland's abundant offshore renewable energy resource will be an increasingly important element of Ireland's future energy policy. The Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan sets out a vision of Ireland’s offshore renewable energy resource contributing to economic development and sustainable growth, and generating jobs for our citizens. The Plan highlights the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Postcode Implementation (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: Since the contract to deliver the project was signed with Capita in December 2013, considerable progress has been made. The design for the National Postcode System was approved by Government and the brand ‘Eircode’ was launched for the National Postcode System in April 2014. Capita launched the website earlier this year. Over the last number of months, Capita have engaged with a...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Production (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: Establishing the average cost of energy production, referred to as the levelised cost, is complex and depends on a number of factors such as capital and operational costs, the fuel used, the cost of carbon, the cost of capital, technology, the project lifetime, efficiency and yield. There are a number of publicly available reports that compare the costs of electricity generation at an...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Renewable Energy Incentives (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: Wave and tidal energy technology is still at the Research, Development and Demonstration stage globally. Ireland has a rich ocean resource and has significant potential in this area. Consequently, in order to take forward the Government's ocean energy strategy, an Ocean Energy Development Unit was established in the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland in 2009.The Ocean Energy Development...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: Through the National Broadband Plan the Government aims to ensure that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses in Ireland, through a combination of commercial investment and a State-led intervention. The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5bn in network upgrades and at least 1.6m of the 2.3m addresses in Ireland are...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The provision of broadband services occurs within a fully liberalised market. The commecial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5bn in network upgrades and at least 1.6m of the 2.3m addresses in Ireland are expected to have access to commercial high speed broadband services over the next number of years. Mobile service providers are now also rolling out 4G...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Postal Services (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: While I have overall responsibility for the postal sector, the Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Act 2011 charges the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), as the postal regulator, with the promotion of the development of the postal sector and particularly the availability of the universal postal service, the promotion of the interests of users and the facilitation of...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Electricity Transmission Network (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: In January 2014, an independent panel of experts, chaired by Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, was established to examine the Grid West and Grid Link projects. The Panel met on several occasions since then to consider and approve the terms of reference for comprehensive, route specific studies and reports of fully undergrounded and overhead options for each of the Grid West and Grid Link...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Rural Broadband Scheme (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The National Broadband Plan contains very clear commitments from Government to invest in areas of the country where high speed broadband services are not, or will not, be made available through commercial investment. We are close to finalising the comprehensive national mapping exercise which will culminate shortly in the publication of a national coverage map. This will enable all users,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Conservation (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: Just under 280,000 homes have received some form of Government assisted energy efficiency upgrade since 2009 under the Better Energy Programme. This represents approximately one sixth of all homes in the country. While applications for grants under the Better Energy Homes Programme have been falling, this has been somewhat offset by a surge in applications under the Better Energy Areas and...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Renewable Energy Incentives (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: A number of district energy schemes and community co-op projects, including those using energy from renewable sources, have been supported under the Better Energy Programme administered by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). These include district heating schemes in Tralee and Longford as well as the Aran Island Energy Co-Op, where the retrofit of homes and buildings on the...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The National Broadband Plan aims to ensure that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and business in Ireland. This is being achieved through measures designed to accelerate commercial investment and the development of a State-led intervention for non-commercial areas. Since publication of the Plan, investments by the commercial sector have accelerated with commercial operators...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Renewable Energy Generation Issues (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The overarching objective of the Government’s energy policy is to ensure secure and sustainable supplies of competitively priced energy to all consumers. The 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive set Ireland a binding target of having 16% of its final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020. Ireland is committed to meeting this target through meeting 40% of electricity demand,...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Broadband Service Provision (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: Through the National Broadband Plan (NBP) the Government aims to ensure that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses in Ireland, through a combination of commercial investment and a State-led intervention. The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5bn in network upgrades and at least 1.6m of the 2.3m addresses in...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: National Broadband Plan Implementation (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The National Broadband Plan (NBP) the Government aims to ensure that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses in Ireland, through a combination of commercial investment and a State-led intervention. The commecial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5bn in network upgrades and at least 1.6m of the 2.3m addresses in Ireland are...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Conservation (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The National Smart Metering Programme is a central component of the Government’s strategy to enhance management of energy demand, deliver smart networks and enable greater energy efficiency. It is also aligned with EU obligations on Member States under the Energy Efficiency Directive to progress smart metering. Under the European Union (Energy Efficiency Regulations) 2014 the roll-out...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Energy Efficiency (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: I recently published a Draft Bioenergy Plan which is available on my Department’s website (www.dcenr.gov.ie). The draft Plan will undergo Strategic Environmental and Appropriate Assessments, including public consultation, which will inform the content of the finalised Plan. These assessment processes will commence shortly. Analysis underpinning the draft Plan is that an additional...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Media Pluralism (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The Broadcasting Act 2009 provides the framework for the licensing and regulation of broadcasting services in Ireland. In order to fulfil the functions provided for in Section 66 of the Act, the BAI operate an Ownership and Control Policy (the most recent version of which was published in 2012) which sets out the regulatory approach and the rules enforced regarding ownership and control. The...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Security of the Elderly (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The provision of telecommunications services, including fixed line SMS, occurs within a fully liberalised market, regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). ComReg, which is independent in the exercise of its functions, can intervene in the market to ensure universal public access to basic voice, fax and functional internet access services at fixed locations from at...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: Media Pluralism (23 Oct 2014)

Alex White: The media enjoy a position of special rights and responsibilities and are an important conduit for the exercise of freedom of expression, the development of civic discourse and the proper and adequate representation of the diversity that exists in our society. Owing to this critical role played by the media it is vital to the public interest that the State protect media pluralism as far as is...