Results 301-320 of 3,519 for speaker:Martin Kenny

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Citizens' Assembly Report on Biodiversity Loss: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I thank our guests for their work and input. The question asked is quite valid: what do we do here? Basically, our job is to go through and examine the report produced by the citizens' assembly. We take in witnesses from various sectors of society and various players from the farming community, business and everywhere else, get their views on it and then ascertain from that what we can...

Science Week: Statements (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I am delighted to be here to make a statement on Science Week and on the importance of scientific and technological advances in our economy and society. My mother was born in 1932. She had osteoporosis as a child and spent several years in Cappagh Hospital from when she was seven until she was 11. The medicines that were available then were very poor compared to those for a child in a...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: A future Minister is an unknown quantity. I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement and the detail he has gone into so far. I will go back to the business solar scheme, which there is great interest in. As the Minister of State said, a whole range of places, including even community centres, are looking at it. It is one of the things we can do that creates great buy-in...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: What rate is the grant?

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: How much does an applicant have to put up? If a community centre wanted to put solar panels on the roof, how much of the cost can it draw down?

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: If a project were to cost €30,000, how much would the applicants have to put up?

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: They would get €7,000 and have to put up €23,000.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: For a business, that is fine, but it is not feasible for many community projects. I had a conversation with a community project that has a large roof area and was interested in this. It said the level of grant caused a difficulty for them. The low-interest loan is something it will have to consider. Is that available to projects such as that? It is only for residential.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: One of the difficulties is that when we get into the detail of some of these schemes, we see that people who really want to do it are excluded. Every scheme needs to have criteria, understandably. However, to give an example, a farmer would very easily run up a cost of €30,000 in putting a decent-size solar project on the roof of his or her sheds. The farmer would have to find more...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: Is there any proposal to extend that low-interest loan scheme to people in the commercial sector?

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: The difficulty is the amount of funding available and the criteria farmers have to meet. It is arduous. Anyway, it is all progress. I am not here to nitpick. It is good to see there is extra money being put into it. We also need to consider where the savings have been made. Reference has been made to the just transition and why it has not happened at the pace expected. There are...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister of State. It is useful to go through these matters. The big issue is that the ambition of the public is not matched with the support they need. That is not a criticism; it is just reality. If we were able to find better mechanisms of designing these schemes, such as the business solar one, we could get more small businesses in particular to engage with them. There is...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: The difficulty is that when people actually get into it, they start scratching their heads. They may have thought they would get certain funding but they cannot access it and they cannot afford another loan as they already have so many loans. People are put off by all that. We need to find a better route to ensure we can deliver for people who are interested and enthusiastic.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (16 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Minister of State.

Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (15 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: We will be supporting this legislation with the issue of collective bargaining at its core. In many instances, companies have just wound up overnight with large numbers of people let go. We think of Debenhams, TalkTalk, Clerys and numerous others over the decades where similar things have happened. These people are left with very little hope and nowhere to turn. The only chance they have...

Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: The Electoral Commission, in the new way it has been set up, is a huge advancement and improvement and we all recognise that. One issue in which we all have a great interest relates to the electoral register, who is on it and how that system has worked. It has always struck me down the years that when someone turns 18 years of age, the Department of Social Protection is able to write to the...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (15 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I wish to raise with the Taoiseach an issue in my constituency with regard to Scoil Mhuire primary school in Carrick-on-Shannon. The board of management has been ten years looking to get a new school built. The school is split into two campuses. More than 500 children, many of them from various countries, attend the school. The Department of Education compiled a technical report in August...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: I thank the Chair and thank the witnesses for their opening statements and the engagement so far. I want to focus on little part of all of this. I note Ms Donnelly, in her opening statement, said that "Battery storage using renewable electricity is key to decarbonising data centres and maximising the available renewables in the system." I assume that is available renewables for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: Is it prohibitive cost-wise or what are the main issues there? Is the investment there? Is there capacity within that sector to deliver? Dr. Gallagher said there are issues regarding regulation and so on but if all of those were ironed out, how fast could that be done?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Future Licences and Contracts to Connect Data Centres to the Gas Network: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Martin Kenny: In their infancy.