Results 521-540 of 1,031,934 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn)

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In March 2023, I published statutory guidelines to assist local authorities in preparing their local authority climate action plans. Those guidelines include a requirement for ongoing monitoring and progress reporting. Each local authority must provide reporting arrangements which demonstrate accountability for the delivery of actions at various levels, including: reporting within the local...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Connolly: I welcome the Minister’s reply and what he set out, but I think he will agree that a monitoring and reporting system is absolutely essential. Galway City Council is in trouble when it comes to housing. It has many priorities on its hands, including traffic congestion. It seems that climate action is not getting the attention it deserves. I can understand that to a certain extent....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I was very pleased that every one of the 31 local authorities and their councillors approved their local climate action plans in the timeframe we requested, namely by March. We have to be up front and honest that the level of engagement varies between counties but there was a very real effort to make sure that happened. I agree with the Deputy. We need to go forward and really focus on...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Connolly: Galway is a particularly good example of a bottom-up approach. I was there back during the period 2000 to 2003 when there was a bottom-up campaign against incineration - it was not in a NIMBY fashion but one of zero waste – and we were laughed at. We developed a plan for the county and what happened? The Government removed the power to make plans. The Minister is aware of all that....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It needs both. We in central government must be centrally involved. But I might give a couple of examples where it also requires local authority leadership. Take the whole transport area, to return to a question from Deputy Gannon. I was making the case that to meet our climate targets we will have to reduce the volume of traffic and that requires demand-management measures which can only...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Catherine Connolly: There has to be leadership.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Infrastructure (27 Jun 2024)

Darren O'Rourke: How many megawatts of community-owned renewable energy are currently energised and how many more megawatts will be needed in order meet the 2030 target? It seems clear that there is development in this space from a policy perspective, moving from the RESS and recognising some of the barriers. It remains to be seen whether the new SRESS process will address that. From a community...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Infrastructure (27 Jun 2024)

Eamon Ryan: It should always be efficiency first. That is the first fuel, first saving, first and most important priority. I agree with the Deputy's basic point. We have not delivered at the scale and speed that I would like in the context of community-owned generation of renewable power. One of the advantages of renewable power is that it should allow for a more distributed, broadly owned energy...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Infrastructure (27 Jun 2024)

Darren O'Rourke: I encourage the Minister to look at some innovative models across Europe that have sought to take a different approach to the delivery of the same outcome. The outcome should be the literal ownership and a sense of ownership of the energy transition in order to allow people to share in the opportunity and the benefits offered by the transition to renewable energy. There are so many...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Energy Infrastructure (27 Jun 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I agree with the Deputy. I will look at the model. I am very open to looking at different models. We should continue to evolve this because there is real benefit in terms of wider community ownership and engagement. The International Energy Agency, IEA, country review, which was noted by the Government this week, recognised that there are a many community benefits and gain from our...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions (27 Jun 2024)

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Recycling Policy

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Pauline Tully: 67. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the actions he has taken to ensure that the deposit return scheme is accessible to disabled people since the launch of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27566/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Pauline Tully: I ask the Minister what actions he has taken to ensure that the deposit return scheme, DRS, is accessible to disabled people, since the launch of the scheme.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The DRS is a national infrastructure project which operates primarily on a return-to-retail model. Under the DRS regulations, retailers are required to charge customers a deposit for each bottle sold, to take back empty containers, unless exempt, and to refund the deposit to customers. Retailers are also required to ensure that the take-back facility they provide on their premises is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Pauline Tully: I find this a bit unbelievable. Planning for this scheme has taken many months, maybe even years. The scheme was launched at the beginning of the year and the first meeting to properly discuss and have consultation around accessiblity took place on 6 June. Now an advisory panel is going to be put in place. The machines are already in place. They are welcome and are working well....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Recycling Policy (27 Jun 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The scheme was in planning for a number of years. In 2020 and 2021, there were public consultation processes which were open to everybody to offer their advice or suggestions on how the scheme should operate. When I drew up the regulations, I made it a legal requirement that the machines should be accessible to all. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has a waste...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Gary Gannon: We do not want to politicise this issue. Climate is too important for that. It is the Environmental Protection Agency and its analysis which has shown us we are missing the targets. I presume none of us take issue with its figures. As much as we talk a good game about the need for climate action and the importance of reducing emissions, with which we in the Social Democrats are, of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The heavy lifting has to be done in the renewable sector. I refer to the debate I had earlier with Deputy O'Rourke regarding the delivery of the likes of offshore wind and the solar revolution that is taking place. If we can meet our targets in this area, with some 22 GW of power from renewables by the end of this decade, that would bridge half of the gap. That is the most significant...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Climate Action Plan (27 Jun 2024)

Gary Gannon: While I do not doubt for a second the Minister's vigour and belief in how we close the gaps, we are specifically looking for the kind of plans contained within this Government which are in keeping with the figures projected by the EPA. The reality is the climate action plan has a big hole. By the sounds of it, there are no concrete plans - none the EPA can measure - to address it. The...