Results 541-560 of 1,137,939 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Joe O'Brien OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Gary Gannon OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Michael Moynihan OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:Stephen Donnelly OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Mary Butler OR speaker:Malcolm Noonan OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl OR speaker:Niamh Smyth OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Brendan Howlin OR speaker:Joe McHugh OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Cathal Berry OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Catherine Connolly OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire OR speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick)

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: I will give the Minister a chance to respond. I will check whether colleagues want to come back in for another round. If not, I will come back to the Senator.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We have doubled our climate finance in the last three years, as we promised we would. As I have said, this funding is not loans; it is 100% grants. It is not tied. It goes to the poorest. It is designed to enhance communities. It is not just us coming in as if we know everything and controlling things from the top down. It is actually a really good international example of collaboration...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: I was struck by the statistic the Minister provided that, of the 473 GW of renewable energy put in place, only 2.7 GW is in Africa. Has the Minister been able to probe what is going on there? I recently met the Moroccan ambassador to Ireland and he identified great opportunity in this area, to which he is very committed. What are the barriers? Are they funding barriers or are they more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: There are. That 2.7 GW was just last year, although every year is the same. A large chunk of new renewable energy is solar and a very large chunk of it is going to China. China's renewable energy is growing 20% per annum and it has more than the rest of the world combined. Europe is probably in second place, growing by 10% per annum. It has about 20% of overall global renewables. The US...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: The structural question is whether all these microeconomic matters are addressed at the UN or if it is solely the macroeconomic thing of how much money is in the pot.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: The UN has an interest in this. We need to refer to it. Going back to what I was saying, if it is just about the pot and you do not change the financial system, the fundamental problem that our global finance systems are not aligned with climate change remains. Senator Higgins is right; you have to be careful. You can broaden out and look at all financial flows but you can also criticise...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Darren O'Rourke: I will pick up on that point because I am interested in it. I will just raise two things. On the overall level of funding for the NCQG, I presume it is the case that negotiations will determine where things land in that regard. Will the Minister provide any insights he might have as to starting positions and anything that has come from pre-COP engagements? On the public-private mix as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: In Baku recently, no one was talking about the quantum of the NCQG. To a certain extent, you must agree in order to make negotiations work. It is not just about that core figure. In so many ways, it is about the architecture around it - in adaptation, mitigation, Article 6, transparency and so on. That will only come towards the end of the negotiations when people get down to talking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: I thank the Minister for his opening statement. I will invite members to ask their questions. Would Deputy Whitmore like to go first?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: I am mindful of the time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: That it key. It is part of the reporting, tracing and accountability issue I mentioned earlier. It has taken us time to set up some of the funds. Everyone recognises the Green Climate Fund was slow to start and bureaucratic in its formation, but we have learned the lessons and it is starting to deploy more capital. Often what countries are looking for is speed and ease of accessibility as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: For this transition we need traceability and auditing and accounting systems that are transparent on energy flows, financial flows and material flows. That is a big task but that is what we need. The new digital technologies available to us, including AI and others, should give us that capability. It should not exclude any country or any sectors.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Yes, all emissions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: We will just let the Minister answer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Senator Higgins asked a second question about Beyond Oil and Gas. At the UN General Assembly in New York this year, I was asked to chair the latest meeting of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. There is no diminution whatsoever in our status in that regard because that misinformed view that there is some promotion of commercial LNG facilities is totally untrue and not the case. There was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I do not think I mentioned untruth. I am not sure what the Senator is referring to. To be clear, the wording of that technical amendment was to ensure that there were not inconsistencies across other laws and so on. It in no way implies that the State will seek, approve or support the development of a commercial gas facility. We need to reduce our gas across so many different areas. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I will finish on the other issue. I agree, and think I said in my earlier response, that the target of public financing should be on areas like enhancing electricity grids and enhancing administrative and regulatory capacity. Our job is not necessarily to fund or finance energy companies. There are certain instances such as climate mitigation, with a small farmer or even at a more local...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I agree that they need to be strong. They need to be strong, more than anything else, on the accounting and reporting regimes, so there is real transparency. There will be crossover across these various strands in mitigation, adaptation and Article 6. As one of the ministerial pairs, I look forward to those negotiations as they get to the closing stages.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Engagement with Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications on COP29 (22 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: Do colleagues want to come in again? No. We are at the end of the session. I thank the Minister and his officials for coming in today and engaging with us ahead of the Minister's trip to COP29, where he will take up that important role. On behalf of the committee, I congratulate the Minister on his selection. He is the first Irish representative to hold a senior negotiating position at...