Results 141-160 of 1,215,165 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Holly Cairns OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Michael McNamara OR speaker:Peter Fitzpatrick OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon OR speaker:John Brady OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Eoin Ó Broin OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Leo Varadkar OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Emer Higgins OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:Jackie Cahill OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Pippa Hackett OR speaker:James O'Connor OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Johnny Mythen OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Richard O'Donoghue OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Pádraig O'Sullivan OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Paul Murphy OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Noel Grealish OR speaker:Pauline Tully OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Bríd Smith OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:Claire Kerrane OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill OR speaker:Gerald Nash OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Mary Butler OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh24 OR speaker:Marc MacSharry OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Denise Mitchell OR speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Charlie McConalogue OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh05 OR speaker:Alan Farrell OR speaker:Jack Chambers OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh26 OR speaker:Peter Burke)

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: There are huge opportunities for us to rethink the way we design these sectors to reduce their impact both on climate and the wider environment. My specific question is: will the Minister consider introducing sectoral strategies around the circular economy in the key sectors within his remit?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for the number of questions he has put forward. In terms of the reduction, we have approximately 9.6% of a reduction in industry on 2018 levels. If the cement industry is excluded, it is 11.5%. Obviously, in the commercial built environment, it is 15.7% since 2018 and if the cement sector is taken out, it is a reduction of an additional 7%. There is significant progress...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank Senator Higgins for her questions. As I pointed out during my earlier contributions, it is not about the employment at the data centre; it is about how much employment it underwrites and supports. That is the key thing. There are so many companies in operation in our State that explicitly rely on data centres to underwrite their activities and keep the high-value jobs that are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: We have a process to manage it. We are all very honest and clear on this. I am not saying at this point that every data centre can get connected. We have to sustainably manage the energy we have available and ensure other sectors do not suffer. We are very ambitious when it comes to other areas in our economy and it is important the CRU manages that process. It will make a determination...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: Anyone who says contrary to that, I believe is misleading people.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: We are waiting for the CRU to make an adjudication, which it will do shortly. We have published our guidance in respect of cement. I had a round-table meeting with the cement group and representatives of Enterprise Ireland to try to ensure that it will be ready when the rules relating to public procurement change shortly. The members of the group will have to be ready to ensure that they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: The technical specification.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: There are major opportunities with the just transition commission. I represent the midlands. I have seen how much my community has changed because of the transition that is being made. The Cabinet appointed a new commission under the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in recent days. This will be very important for the delivery of so much change in my region, particularly as it will give rise...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Alan Farrell: I thank the Minister for coming before the committee. Yesterday, a far older, wiser and more experienced colleague of ours stated that there are political forces whose role is to find conflict as opposed to identifying ways to collaborate to solve problems. Those forces are on display at this committee. Regarding the €300 million in grant funding the Minister mentioned, will the he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: I thank the Deputy for those very important questions. As I pointed out earlier, the €300 million decarbonisation fund has seen significant allocations over the past two years, with approximately €28.8 million allocated in 2023 and more than €38.3 million this year. Companies with significant emissions are on the radar. Diageo, for example, has used it to put together...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Alan Farrell: I have one follow-up question. Is there a budget associated with the plan being brought forward for the SME sector? Will the Minister outline it to the committee?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: The SEAI will have the budget and will be implementing it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Alan Farrell: I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: I agree. It is a very serious challenge. As I have said, we have to sustainably manage the challenge because something that is not often referred to in this debate is the number of jobs supported by data centres like the one the Deputy mentioned in Clonee. This is a critical thing that we have to understand. Data centres do require significant infrastructure but they provide very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: Construction waste accounts for about 41% of our industrial emissions so it poses a very serious challenge. I visited some sights and saw the work being done to try to change the processes. I have seen large amounts of recycled material being used by those companies. They continue to do a lot of work to try to utilise more carbon-neutral processes. That being said, the actual process of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: As someone who brought forward the legislation to establish MARA and provide a planning and consent regime for offshore renewable projects when Minister of State with responsibility for local government and planning, I believe it is important that we urgently address the west coast. We have DMAPs for the east and the south but the west coast will be a significant challenge. There are a lot...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has published a national strategy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Paul Murphy: Has the Minister been lobbied by the data centre industry either individually as data centres or the varying lobbying organisations? If so, what have been they been pushing for and what has been his response? What measures are being taken to ensure the policy on data centres does not place significant stress on Ireland's water supply, as well as the stress on our electricity supply? We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Peter Burke: In response to Deputy Murphy, ye, I have been lobbied by all sectors. We have a lobbying register in this country, which was set up by my party in government to make how public representatives are asked to take certain courses of action more transparent. That does not mean we do it. I listen to people fairly. I also reflect on where our economy is but the key point is that this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Review of Climate Action Plan 2024: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (24 Oct 2024)

Paul Murphy: What did they request?