Results 301-320 of 1,072,816 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:John Dolan OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:Barry Cowen OR speaker:Malcolm Noonan OR speaker:Paul McAuliffe OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Claire Kerrane OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Francis Noel Duffy OR speaker:Charlie McConalogue OR speaker:Richard Bruton6 OR speaker:Gary Gannon OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Violet-Anne Wynne OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl OR speaker:Joan Collins) in 'Committee meetings'
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Brian Leddin: I thank Mr. Meally for that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: I thank our guests for their presentations. Let me comment on procurement first. I am a bit puzzled. The witnesses seem to be saying they do not have enough influence over the decisions made. Every public sector body has adopted the commitment to a 51% reduction. Presumably, the first and easiest thing to do is design the things one is now procuring. How can we continue and not be able...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: Is their budget a lifetime budget or is the requirement to stay within this year's budget? There is an entirely different view if you take the lifetime impact and you factor in the carbon impact. As we go along, the price of carbon is heading towards the moon. What budget are they staying within?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: I would imagine that too.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: No one is biting with the president's teeth, as they say in America. The reality is the pressure of today's budget squeezes out all the desirable principles. The targets are not even ambitious; they are quite modest targets in a lot of areas. We need to shift something here. I saw from the SEAI's projection that the cost of securing some of these targets is between €9.5 billion...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: The SEAI has presented the evidence of where we are.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Brian Leddin: We have targets for 2030, which is five years away, but that has not been budgeted for, essentially. I am not saying it is SEAI's role but it is a political decision to budget for that level of investment to achieve our targets.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Brian Leddin: That is interesting. Is the €13 billion estimate very much aligned with the 2030 target or is it the net zero?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Brian Leddin: Okay. Is Deputy Bruton happy?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Brian Leddin: Deputy Whitmore is next.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: As regards procurement, I do not think the witnesses got around to answering the question about data. If we want to drive change, we have to benchmark where we are and hold people's toes to the fire as to where they are moving. Are the witnesses able to tell us, or is someone able to tell us, the percentage of EVs being acquired where public bodies are acquiring vehicles? What is in 2024...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: That is illustrative, but at the back of the submission, in one of the appendices, there is a heap of things, like 100% recycled paper and no fossil fuel boilers going in. Do we get a snapshot? Is there an annual snapshot, a sort of name and shame, if obvious decisions are being made that fall outside what would be reasonable procurement rules? I find on this committee that we struggle to...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: They are just qualitative things. They are not concrete measures of anything.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: The SEAI has said that there has not been any progress since 2020. What are the critical things on which we might have expected progress but it has not been made?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: The SEAI is pushing the beacons of excellence. Is that visible on some-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: Do the witnesses want to comment on the contractors and why we cannot use them?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Richard Bruton: What is the problem with-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Brian Leddin: The phone-charging stations at music festivals spring to mind. People queue up to cycle the bike to charge the phones.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)
Brian Leddin: Those are innovative solutions. People will often find that from what seems a good solution, only a small amount of energy is generated. That is why as a society we are addicted to fossil fuels. They are energy dense and useful but have created a catastrophic challenge for us. If the witnesses were to change anything or say anything to the politicians, what can be looked at to help the...