Results 19,841-19,860 of 31,374 for speaker:Eamon Ryan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Programme for Government (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Programme for Government - Our Shared Future sets out the Government's response to the significant challenges facing the country including the fallout from Covid-19, decarbonising our economy and creating a sustainable future for all. My Department is central to many of the transformative changes envisaged in the programme including climate action and the digital agenda. Programme...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: After years of working in this area, it is my assessment that we often focus on the technology, the wires, the hardware and the way one gets digital information moved from one place to the other. I believe that the key issue for success is in the use and actual behavioural side of it and in what ways the technology is used. The actual soft application side can be more important than the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right. Everything has changed following the pandemic. Householders are rightly seeking information. In Dublin Fingal some 6,050 premises are due to be provided with broadband under the NBP scheme. In the current plans the blue area where commercial operators are delivering or have plans to deliver, it is almost ten times that number at 57,000. That is subject to change....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I agree with the Deputy. Some very high-profile people have criticised the NBP. Strategically for the State, the guarantee that no house will be left out is critical. It is not relying on the market and we will intervene in areas where the market cannot or will not deliver. The mapping of that has been done and it is effective. The broad approach in identifying those houses is the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I will read the reply into the record. The question is from yourself.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: Congratulations to you as well, a Chathaoirligh. I am happy to respond to your question. Over the years we have worked on various committees together and I think you will agree that is where the most important work of the Oireachtas is done. The programme for Government sets out our ambition to more than halve our carbon emissions over this decade. The action we take in the coming...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I look forward to working with the Deputy and bringing her expertise into play on where we go from here. There was an informal meeting of the European Council of environment ministers yesterday. Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the European Commission, set out the approach the Commission is planning to take this autumn and into the new year under the German Presidency. The German...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Deputy. This plan was debated extensively throughout the lifetime of the last Dáil. Whatever my concerns around ownership issues and contractual arrangements, and they were real concerns, I was always supportive of the need for a rural broadband system. I am happy to take responsibility for making sure that we deliver it. It is not the only critical infrastructure that we...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: Like so many other projects the national broadband plan has been delayed slightly by the Covid-19 pandemic due to the difficulty of completing certain work but it has not been delayed as much as other projects. A lot of the work of recent months, such as surveying poles to see which ones need to be improved or upgraded, could continue. By the end of this year we expect to be pretty much on...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I thank Deputy Duncan Smith. This is one of the most interesting areas. One learns so much about the infrastructure that supports our society. I look forward to working with the Deputy on this common cause. The high-speed broadband map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie, shows the areas in north County Dublin which will be included in the national broadband plan's...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: North-South Interconnector (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I thank Deputy O'Rourke. I am aware of the anger and the intense public concern in a variety of areas but I am also aware of the critical importance of this piece of infrastructure for the island of Ireland and for co-operation North and South and the benefits for all our people. It is critical to improving the efficient operation of the single electricity market and increasing security of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: North-South Interconnector (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The most recent estimates I have from the Department on the cost of the project is that €180 million will be incurred in the South, with the remaining €109 million being incurred in Northern Ireland. The total figure estimated by the International Expert Commission was a cost of €230 million. I do not have the figure for the cost incurred to date but I imagine it is not...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: North-South Interconnector (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I hope we are not speaking past each other. I want to be as honest and up-front as I can be in saying I believe the project should proceed under the planning permission it has and in line with all the reviews that were done. My personal view, having looked at this in real depth and detail over the years, is that I do not believe it is technically possible or optimal to do it with an...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I thank Deputy Lawless. I look forward to his next term in the vineyard of policy ideas. He worked very effectively on the digital transformation that we need to achieve so I look forward to continuing to work with him on that. Rolling out the national broadband plan, NBP, will be central to that. This plan will provide high-speed broadband to the 1.1 million people living and working in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Fuel Poverty (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: Again, I do not have the figures to hand but I will happily ask the Department to follow up on it and to forward to the Deputy the background statistics, which came from the Department of Finance's projection forward as I recall. Strangely, one would hope that in time as a variety of different measures kick in, including the carbon tax, our use of fuels will decrease and the revenue numbers...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Bord na Móna (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right that the just transition we seek in the midlands is critical. It has to be delivered and it is the first real test of the nature of the change we will make as we start to reduce our emissions at scale. It is critical for Bord na Móna that we deliver alternative job opportunities to the sectors and regions most affected and that we ensure vulnerable groups are helped...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Bord na Móna (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The Deputy is right. Those constituents of hers have to be at the centre of all of our attention. The cessation of peat extraction for industrial peat, power generation or horticultural use is a matter that is being led by the courts. The political system cannot intervene in the judicial process in that regard. However, we can start to promote the alternatives that will create the jobs...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Bord na Móna (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: The programme for Government commits that within the lifetime of the Government we will solve the air pollution problem, which is a particular problem for many towns in the midlands, by moving away from the use of all smoky products that add to the air quality problem, especially imported products. That is a commitment. Bord na Móna's new strategic plan that came out in response to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: It is true that the importance of this work cannot be understated but I am confident, from my initial briefings from departmental officials, that the scale and expertise are sufficient in the office. The Deputy will be aware that there are other areas of expertise in the State, including in the Garda and Defence Forces, where there are additional resources. Bringing those resources together...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (15 Jul 2020)

Eamon Ryan: I see the relationship as one of co-operation. Primary responsibility will lie with the NCSC. That is proper and it mirrors best practice throughout the EU, where it is in the civil authorities that overall control and cybersecurity management rest. That will involve a lot of collaboration and personnel moving from the Defence Forces into this area. That provides for a healthy level of...