Results 1-20 of 1,272 for at speaker:Ossian Smyth

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Recycling Farm Plastics: Discussion (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the committee for inviting me to address it. This is my first time before the agriculture committee. I am the Minister of State with responsibility for the circular economy, so agriculture is not my specific area of expertise, but I will do my best to answer all of the questions from members. If I cannot, I will revert to them with answers. One of my Department’s...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Recycling Farm Plastics: Discussion (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: We do not have a tally of how much plastic is being stored in each particular yard at any one time. Obviously, that changes from day to day. It is the responsibility of the local authorities to ensure that any waste collector is storing material within the terms and conditions of its permit and that it is not storing more than it should in its yard.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Recycling Farm Plastics: Discussion (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The Department or Government is not keeping track of exactly how much plastic is in each yard every day of the year. What we are looking at is how much plastic has been produced and how much has been recycled.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Recycling Farm Plastics: Discussion (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I think the Senator is asking whether there is a difference between the amount of material plastic film that is collected and what is actually recycled at the end of the year. In other words, he is asking if any more material is being collected than is actually being recycled and, if that is happening, whether there is a discrepancy. He is asking if we can provide figures for both. I will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Recycling Farm Plastics: Discussion (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The Senator is right to say the amount of money IFFPG has is the total amount of levies paid in by producers. For the 5% that did not come back, those levies are still in the account. That money is unclaimed. It is unlikely we will reach 100% recycling. That is not the target IFFPG is operating to. When we look at other waste streams in society, we are not achieving 100% anywhere else....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Recycling Farm Plastics: Discussion (Resumed) (15 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The first issue is in what way they are in compliance. They are in compliance with the permits that were issued to them as waste collectors. In other words, they are in compliance with environmental law and the terms and conditions that were imposed by the local authorities. There may be unsightly piles of plastic. However, the question is about whether they are in compliance within the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Energy Conservation (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I am not sure I have the answer to the question at hand. My apologies.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: We spent most of our time talking about the climate action plan, the ways to reduce emissions and prevent the worst effects of climate change from happening, and the adaptation plans are what is done when it does happen, and when flooding occurs, how we build the infrastructure to prevent it from happening. There are many questions in this House on flooding. They are answered by the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Ireland's digital connectivity strategy, published by my Department, sets ambitious targets, which include providing a gigabit network to all households and businesses in Ireland by 2028 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030, which is high speed and future-proofed. National Broadband Ireland, NBI, is rolling out a broadband network through its contract with the Minister. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The nature of the plan is 100% coverage. The country has been divided into 227 areas. The contractor only gets paid when it connects 100% of premises within that area. In other words, it has to pass fibre past every farm, business and home to get its payment. This is not a scheme that leaves people out. It completes by the end of 2026 and at that point 100% of the premises in the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: There are crews working in every county in Ireland. The plan was devised in such a way that, rather than go from one county or province to the next, the whole county would be worked on at the same time. It is not a case that one county or community is being left out. Naturally, with a seven-year plan, there are people who will be passed in year 7 and they will not be as happy as the people...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I start by acknowledging that community energy is really important. It creates a sense of ownership and belonging and the mechanisms that might work in the commercial sector have not worked in the community. The mechanism of auction has not proved appropriate in the community sector. It is because of this that a new scheme is being launched. There was extensive engagement with communities...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Change Policy (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The statutory 2018 national adaptation framework, NAF, sets out Ireland's climate adaptation policy. Following my Department's review of the framework I approved the development of a new NAF, and the draft was completed in December 2023. It incorporates key sectoral and stakeholder input, including from the Climate Change Advisory Council. A statutory public consultation was undertaken...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: As the Deputy said, this information is not available on the website at the moment. When I started in this position, at the launch of the national broadband plan, there was no information beyond two years. If it was beyond two years, it just stated some time between now and 2026. I asked the NBI to provide the exact date or at least to the nearest quarter when it would be provided to tell...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Deputy O'Sullivan suggested that the local authorities should have the most accessible machines and that is a very good suggestion. I will go back to the local authorities on that. He asked about credit being applied to people's phones. Local authority civic amenity sites do not handle very small quantities of cash, such as 15 cent. They are really looking at what the solution is for...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cybersecurity Policy (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I can confirm the NCSC is doing that in co-operation with An Garda Síochána because the gardaí are the people who see first-hand what the effect of these scams is. The scams are always changing because people are protecting themselves. It is an arms race. The criminals then change their methods. Then the NCSC and An Garda Síochána communicate to the public through...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: North-South Interconnector (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: In Deputy O'Rourke's previous question about curtailment, he clearly showed an understanding of what the problems are when we have too much electricity in one part of the island and not enough in another and we cannot share it from one to the other. I am sure he understands what the benefits of the project are. Like any infrastructure project, whether building a road or a greenway, there is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: .... Since the deposit-return scheme, DRS, went live on 1 February, more than 100 million containers have been returned and €18 million has been refunded to consumers in deposits. Daily return rates are growing all the time, regularly exceeding 2 million containers. It reached 3 million on Sunday. A four-month transition period is in place to allow for the selling-off of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Deputy O'Sullivan asked me to name the local authorities. I know my own council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, is engaging with councils in other European countries to figure out how they manage it. I hope it will be one of the first. I do not have a list of the other four local authorities, but when I get it, I will send it to the Deputy. On the question about excess...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Renewable Energy Generation (14 May 2024)

Ossian Smyth: As I understand it, EnergyCloud works by offering people who are on low incomes the chance to have a hot tank of water overnight, and that is done through energy that otherwise would have been thrown away and wasted. I understand this has been a successful experiment. I was asked about it before it started a couple of years ago and I understand that since it has been running it has been...