Results 1-20 of 124 for data protection speaker:Ossian Smyth

Seanad: Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I will request that information. I will see whether I can find out from the CRU or my Department how many data centres are seeking direct connection to the gas grid. It is a fair question. The approval I have from the Government for this legislation is simply for the integration of the current activities of Ervia into GNI. It does not provide for the board to engage in any new function or...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Regulatory Bodies (25 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: ...sector to both the economy and society, robust regulation of networks and services in a manner that enables investment, ensures operational resilience and trust and appropriate consumer protection requires a fit-for-purpose communications regulator. Both my officials and I meet regularly with ComReg to discuss a range of policy and regulatory issues, including the timely and adequate...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Regulatory Bodies (25 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: ...in six different measures. I will not outline them because they would be of use to the scammers themselves. In addition, we have a new commissioner coming in. This is Helen Dixon, who was the Data Protection Commissioner. She will take up the position of commissioner. She will join Garett Blaney and Robert Mourik, who as I said, I work with closely. ComReg will have a new function...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Large Energy Users Rebalancing Subvention: Discussion (23 Jan 2024)

Ossian Smyth: ...steel manufacturing sectors. These companies represented jobs in our communities at a time when they were few and far between. While people today who hear "large energy user" may automatically jump to data centres, this was not the case back in 2009. As members can see, the top large energy users of that time mainly represented manufacturing and education sectors. In 2009, following...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: School Admissions (29 Nov 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...crisis arising from the war in Ukraine. Part of the REALTs' role was to assist in finding school places for Ukrainian children. This was subsequently extended to providing for international protection applicants seeking school placement. Over 17,500 Ukrainian students have been enrolled in our schools to date.This is a testament to the fantastic work done across school communities and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: The Circular Economy: Discussion (4 Oct 2023)

Ossian Smyth: .... The reason we did this was that people who had been caught dumping in the past had successfully defended themselves on the basis that their privacy rights had been invaded under the general data protection regulation, GDPR. We were advised that we needed to pass primary legislation to give local authorities the power to collect evidence to convict people and we have done that. The law...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Air Quality (28 Sep 2023)

Ossian Smyth: National air quality monitoring stations are operated, maintained and monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, under the ambient air quality monitoring programme. My Department has provided funding for a significant upgrade to the network in recent years and the number of monitoring stations has increased from 29 in 2017 to 114 today. The expansion will be complete when the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Mortgage Interest Rates (6 Jul 2023)

Ossian Smyth: .... The Central Bank indicated that the weighted average interest rate on variable rate mortgages charged by the former was 3.73%, and 5.36% by the latter. The Central Bank published further data on 8 June 2023 indicating that the dispersal of interest rates by the NLNBs was much greater than that of either the banks or the lending non-banks. This means that the NLNBs had a greater number...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Mortgage Interest Rates (6 Jul 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...level of fixed interest rate for new lending was 4.11%. That compares with 3.54% in April 2023. In April, mortgage rates in Ireland were among the lowest in the eurozone. Recent Central Bank data indicate that a significant portion of new mortgages, or 89%, are now fixed rate mortgages. These fixed rates will protect borrowers in the event of a rise in official and market interest...

Energy (Windfall Gains in the Energy Sector) (Temporary Solidarity Contribution) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages (5 Jul 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...Article 17, must be used for energy consumers and must be done in a transparent and verifiable way. I commit that the Department will do that. As for how much specific companies contributed, there are data protection considerations, so I do not believe that, legally, I can publish the exact figure each company's contribution amounted to. It is for those reasons that I do not...

Seanad: Cybersecurity and Data Protection: Statements (22 Jun 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...type of gang that carried out an attack on our health service in 2021. They were carrying out a form a crime involving ransomware where they break into the computers in an organisation, take the data, lock it up and encrypt it and charge a ransom to have the information returned. They have two forms of threat in a ransomware attack. One threat is that they will never give the data back...

Seanad: Cybersecurity and Data Protection: Statements (22 Jun 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...in Helsinki in January. I was honoured to be the person who signed Ireland up to that. This is a group of different countries, EU members and also NATO members, researching together on how to protect their countries from this type of threat. It is a research facility that publishes nearly everything it does. This issue will come to the fore in the forthcoming EU elections, the local...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Prices (17 May 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...programme calls for much more citizen engagement with the clean energy transition to empower citizens to take action. Since November 2022, customers have been able to access their smart meter data directly from ESB Networks, following the launch of its new customer portal. That portal provides online independent access for customers to see their own electricity consumption data in order...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...activities if they were acting solely on their own behalf. I hope this answers that question. I will now turn to the amendment. Amendment No. 4 proposes to introduce a new code of conduct to protect the public interest from fossil fuel lobbying. Under section 16 of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, the Standards in Public Office Commission may produce a code of conduct for persons...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Energy Prices (19 Apr 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...not to the Minister. Officials from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications have ongoing engagement with the CRU and the utility companies on the issue of prices, customer protections and related matters. Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and the reductions in energy supplies to Europe have caused unprecedented energy price spikes in European households. In the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Road Safety Authority (19 Apr 2023)

Ossian Smyth: This is an important matter. I agree that having good collision data on road traffic incidents is absolutely vital to being able to bring down the rates overall and protect people. The Road Safety Authority, in addition to providing a number of essential services, is responsible for public awareness and education in the road safety area. It is also the body with statutory responsibility...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Road Safety Authority (19 Apr 2023)

Ossian Smyth: The Minister has drafted the direction. We have to have a consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner. We cannot predict how long the Data Protection Commissioner will take to decide on what we are trying to do and to decide whether the commission endorses it. If we arrive at a position where the Data Protection Commissioner says that it is fine or we can do within certain...

Seanad: Environmental Protection Agency (Emergency Electricity Generation) (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (9 Mar 2023)

Ossian Smyth: I thank the Senator. I have heard from EirGrid and the CRU, which are answerable to the environment committee the Senator sits on, that large energy users and data centres will be the first to have their power turned off in the event of an electricity shortage. That is right and it is why they are being required under the new guidelines to provide 100% backup of their systems. As the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Closed-Circuit Television Systems (28 Feb 2023)

Ossian Smyth: ...question, which is close to my heart and which I have been following closely since we legislated for it. The policy document, A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, contains a commitment to data-proof all waste enforcement legislation to ensure all available and emerging audiovisual recording equipment, including CCTV, can be used in a manner that is compliant with the general data...