Results 161-180 of 1,148,177 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl OR speaker:Seán Canney OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl9 OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Mary Butler OR speaker:Seán Ó Fearghaíl1 OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh OR speaker:James Browne OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh16 OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh6 OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh20 OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Jim O'Callaghan OR speaker:Brendan Smith OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh31 OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh26 OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Seán Fleming OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív57 OR speaker:Catherine Martin OR speaker:Eoin Ó Broin OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh22 OR speaker:Cormac Devlin OR speaker:John Brady OR speaker:Brendan Griffin OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Richard Bruton) in 'Committee meetings'

Maternity Protection Bill 2024 [Seanad]: Second Stage (17 Oct 2024)

Jim O'Callaghan: I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. I commend the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, on bringing forward this legislation into these sittings of the Oireachtas. It may be recalled that on 20 March this year, I introduced the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Bill 2024. It sought, in effect, to do exactly the same as the Minister is seeking to do in this legislation. Obviously, I am...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: Today's meeting has been convened to consider the Supplementary Estimate for Vote 29 as it relates to programmes A and B. I welcome the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and his officials. I will read the note on privilege. I remind members of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I thank the Cathaoirleach and the committee for this opportunity to present details of this Supplementary Estimate as it relates to programmes A and B of Vote 29 - environment, climate and communications. The main purpose of the Supplementary Estimate is to provide additional funding of €520 million for the fourth electricity costs emergency benefit scheme, €3.32 million for...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: I thank the Minister for his opening statement. We will first consider subhead A11. Do any members wish to come in on this very much technical one? It relates to the just transition fund of €440,000 and an overpayment by the European Commission. I will move on to subhead B5, which is the energy-efficiency programmes. This relates to the SEAI and HSE pathfinder programme. It was...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: I commend the Minister on the work he has done in the Department. He has made a real mark. We now have legislation and a framework for implementing our climate ambition. We have made significant progress and many good initiatives have been rolled out, such as the loan scheme that was recently put in place. It would be churlish not to recognise the effort, commitment and progress that the...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I very much appreciate the Deputy's kind words. This will sound like a mutual appreciation society but much of what we have been able to do in the past four years was because there was a platform laid in what the Deputy had done with the likes of the waste-action plan and circular economy. The Climate Action Plan 2019 set the format that inspired the new legislation and I could go on. At...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: I thank the Minister for that. There are no other questions on subhead B5. We will move on to subhead B11, which is the electricity credit. Do colleagues wish to come in on this one? Deputy O'Rourke is muted on our end. We will try to resolve this if the Deputy gives us a moment. He is back and we can hear him now.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I thank Deputy O'Rourke for his kind words. I am blushing now. I had better get out of the place quickly before something goes wrong, but I appreciate his comments very much. I will speak to a couple of points on the electricity credit. First, I again need to look to my officials here who have been responsible. It was initiated and designed in our Department and delivered by our...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: I commend the progress made on this by the Department. As the Minister rightly alluded, we had a considerable battle to get this approved, and I was gratified about a year ago to see the Minister's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, issue a reply indicating that the present calculation of the benefits was double the benefits estimated at the time it was approved. That...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: I will add to Deputy Bruton's point if I may. It is a really important one about how often our projections are conservative and we do not decide to make these investments. We spoke about this in respect of the Minister's transport portfolio in the Dáil earlier. If we were conservative in doing our business case, analysis and feasibility, we might not make the investments. We might...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: I remember I had concerns at the time about the ownership of the assets with regard to the national broadband plan, but not the underlying economic logic and rationale. There was reasonable cross-party consensus about proceeding even if there were concerns about aspects of it. In this country we can sometimes work to reach consensus in the political system. The deposit refund scheme worked...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: I also advocated for the "disruptive technologies" programme, where €500 million-----

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: That is where project finance is given for those ideas that are-----

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: We have medical device companies and ICT companies; we have wonderful resources. We are probably better placed than almost any state to think about a transformative programme in this area. It would be a low-cost toe in the water. It would be harder to integrate the State, as the Minister said, but it would be a good first step.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: Sorry for going into the weeds on this, Chair, but I very much agree with Deputy Bruton. The former head of digital strategy in the HSE, Martin Curley, was someone who I listened to with respect on this because he was doing exactly that. I was at events where he brought in the medical device industries we have here, which are highly resourced and capable, as well as the HSE, the hospital...

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Richard Bruton: Now that the Minister may have a little more time on his hands, he should listen to "The Rest is Politics - Leading", a podcast with Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell, and the interview they did with Audrey Tang, the digital Minister in Taiwan. What Taiwan did around the co-designing of solutions is well worth a listen. It is amazing what was achieved in a relatively short period.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Eamon Ryan: We talk of little else when we get into the canteen on the coffee break.

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary) (17 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: It is the first time I have heard the quadruple helix mentioned in the committee but hopefully not the last. It sounds very important. We have reached the end of our consideration of the Supplementary Estimates. I thank members for their questions, the Minister for his answers and the officials for attending. The last day the Minister was here I said my goodbyes so I will not repeat them....

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Message to the Dáil (17 Oct 2024)

Brian Leddin: In accordance with Standing Order 101, the following message will be sent to the Dáil: The Select Committee on Environment and Climate Action has completed its consideration of the following Supplementary Estimates for public services for the year ending 31 December 2024: Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications. Under Standing Order 100(2), the message is deemed to be the...

Visit of Czech Delegation (17 Oct 2024)