Results 1-20 of 1,132,807 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Tom Kitt OR speaker:Josepha Madigan OR speaker:Kieran O'Donnell OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Martin Kenny OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív67 OR speaker:Cormac Devlin OR speaker:Cathal Berry OR speaker:Marc MacSharry OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív11 OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Richard O'Donoghue OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Dara Calleary OR speaker:Imelda Munster OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív00 OR speaker:Heather Humphreys OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Helen McEntee OR speaker:Joe Flaherty OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Francis Noel Duffy OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire)

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)

Richard Bruton: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: I thank the witnesses for their opening statements. I was a bit late to the meeting and may have missed something, so I apologise if I go over something that was already spoken about. With regard to the Office of Government Procurement, Ms Stewart spoke about guidance. This is probably following on from Deputy Bruton's question. Are there definitive rules as to what public bodies have to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: Then there is the whether, something Deputy Bruton touched on - whether the public sector body has done it. When the public sector body writes and explains, is it to the Office of Government Procurement?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: Is that made public?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: Any time an entity goes beyond the guidance, it will be there and reported on.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: As regards the funding element of it, a lot of procurement is based on the price and that is the overarching criteria. If someone says they can meet a specific price, but I want a green procurement and it is going to cost more, is there an allowance given?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: A lot of public sector bodies must go with the cheapest price, however.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Update on the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Jennifer Whitmore: Great. I thank Ms Stewart. I will ask the SEAI a question. I met Mr. Walsh last week in County Wicklow where Bray fire station is the first county building to be fully decarbonised. It is a very positive project. I understand that was funded under the pathfinder project for Wicklow County Council. That is really welcome. In the work SEAI is doing, is consideration given to the fact...

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-----