Results 1-20 of 46 for data protection speaker:Bríd Smith

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Data Protection (27 Jun 2023)

Bríd Smith: 450. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if a person participating in the JobPath programme who declines to sign a consent form allowing Seetec to make contact with employers of perspective employers on their behalf, will be sanctioned or penalised in any way; how programme participants' personal data is stored, processed and shared; how this complies with Irish...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Climate Action Plan (21 Jun 2023)

Bríd Smith: The context for this discussion is that report on the climate action plan and its progress. It is remarkable to hear a report from the Taoiseach that did not mention that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, recently told us the first two carbon budgets will not be met. Not only will they not be met, they will not be met by a significant amount. The EPA predicts at best a 29%...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Departmental Strategies (13 Jun 2023)

Bríd Smith: I also want to ask the Taoiseach about data centres and comment on the astonishing speed and insistence of the Ministers, Deputies Eamon Ryan and Coveney, to protect the data centre sector in light of the statistics showing a substantial increase in the amount of electricity - up 9% in the past five years - that is being used by these centres. As previous speakers indicated, the sector's...

Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions: Motion: Departmental Properties (29 Mar 2023)

Bríd Smith: We have probably all known for a while now that data centre operators have been developing their own energy capacity in recent years. We are all aware of the danger of the blackouts we were warned would occur over the winter months. These did not happen but the full extent of generation capacity has only recently been learned and revealed. It indicates just how considerable the energy...

Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (7 Mar 2023)

Bríd Smith: ..., the purpose of this Bill, which is being rushed through the Dáil in an emergency fashion by the Minister with the support of all his Green Party colleagues, is to bypass current environmental protection legislation. It is not about shortening the process in that regard. It is about bypassing , fast-tracking and streamlining it and avoiding the need for an environmental impact...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Greenhouse Gas Emissions (28 Feb 2023)

Bríd Smith: 57. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he can clarify the Government’s plan to deal with recent Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, figures that show increases in CO2 emissions in the State, and that Ireland is the worst performer in the EU, according to EUROSTAT data; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10335/23]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Action Plan 2023: Discussion (16 Feb 2023)

Bríd Smith: ...say to the Minister that I do not believe the plan fulfils the legal requirement as he said because so many important sources are disputing this point with him. Examples include the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Professor John Sweeney, Professor Barry McMullin and An Taisce. They have all said that every measure promised is being kicked down the road and we are set to not reach...

Water Environment (Abstractions and Associated Impoundments) Bill 2022: Second Stage (8 Dec 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...rivers and lakes are regular desperate warnings about the state of our waters and the biodiversity they support, and that nitrogen is choking our coast and rivers. Any Bill that seeks to regulate and protect our water systems is welcome. However, I am again struck by a paradox when it comes to how the State regulates any and every sphere. We are told this Bill will give effect to...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2022 (Supplementary)
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (18 Oct 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...scrutiny of why it is necessary. We need to revisit that. The Minister is looking far into the future to 2026, 2027 and 2028, when we may still require this type of plant, yet the State is continuing to connect data centres to the grid when we know that they are soaking up increasingly large volumes of energy. Should we not, at some point, stop scrambling to purchase extra equipment but...

Energy Security: Motion [Private Members] (21 Sep 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...Ireland. We will march from Parnell Square at 2.30 p.m. to demand meaningful action including price controls, rent controls, increases for workers to match inflation and increases in social protection to match inflation. Nobody should be cut off this winter for being unable to pay their bills. As we have repeatedly said, there should be no further connections to data centres in this...

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (13 Jul 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...us a different animal entirely, with two substantial amendments from the Government to two completely different Acts coming back from the Seanad. There are substantial amendments here to the Environmental Protection Agency Act and the Electricity Regulation Act. The Minister of State may well say these are vitally important, necessary and good amendments. It is hard for us to know that,...

EirGrid, Electricity and Turf (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (29 Jun 2022)

Bríd Smith: Does the Minister deny that this State is an outlier in respect of the percentage of generated power used by data centres compared to other states? The average across the globe is 2% to 4% of the national grid. We are looking at a situation in which 30% of the national grid could be used to feed data centres. To echo what Deputy Whitmore said, a recent report by the Irish Academy of...

EirGrid, Electricity and Turf (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (28 Jun 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...three years or it may be more. Why? Old plants are being retired, we are told, but it is explicitly clear from the EirGrid and CRU statements that the real reason for the panic is to facilitate data centres, pure and simple. We need this measure because the State and the Government have refused to deal adequately with the unhinged proliferation of data centres, something a previous...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Environmental Schemes (14 Jun 2022)

Bríd Smith: 238. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of environmental permits issued by the Environmental Protection Agency; the dates of issue of same for industrial and greenhouse gases to operators of data centres; the total annual purchase of emission allowances through the European Union emissions trading system from these permits in tabular form; and if...

Written Answers — Department of Justice and Equality: Data Protection (28 Apr 2022)

Bríd Smith: 255. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her Department or officials have had any discussion with the Data Protection Commission on the implication of new technology such as smart glasses for data protection; her views on whether new legislation is necessary to protect individual rights in this area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21553/22]

Home Heating Fuels: Motion [Private Members] (26 Apr 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...more likely to happen in bigger cities where traffic is severely congested and air quality is extremely compromised. I represent Dublin South-Central, which is consistently reported in Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, findings as having the worst air quality in the country. I represent many older and vulnerable people in that constituency who have chronic respiratory conditions and...

Assessment of Needs for Children with Special Education Requirements: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (8 Mar 2022)

Bríd Smith: ...effect, a queue to get into a queue. We know the consequences and trauma caused by this and have done so for many years. We know there have been serious staff shortages for years. When we asked for the data on the number of children in each CHO and the time they were waiting to access the services identified in the assessment of needs, the HSE said it does not compile that information....

Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021: Second Stage (3 Dec 2021)

Bríd Smith: ...that seems to know what it is doing, but not to a Government that does not seem to know what it is up to. In the same vein, how many managers of meat plants have been issued with fines for their failure to protect workers in those meat plants? Only last week we heard of an outbreak in a meat plant with 260 cases. The previous week we heard of a grant being given to the meat industry of...

Rising Costs and Supply Security for Fuel and Energy: Motion [Private Members] (10 Nov 2021)

Bríd Smith: .... As the Society of St. Vincent de Paul research that is mentioned in the motion before us shows, energy poverty is much greater and deeper than what is accepted by the Department of Social Protection and the Government. Only last month, People Before Profit tabled a similar motion on the energy crisis, putting a very different emphasis on its cause and proposing remedies to address that...