Results 1-20 of 1,098,897 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Máiría Cahill OR speaker:Fiona O'Loughlin OR speaker:Roderic O'Gorman OR speaker:John Paul Phelan OR speaker:Réada Cronin OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:James Lawless OR speaker:Michael Moynihan OR speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Brian Stanley OR speaker:Richard O'Donoghue OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Brendan Griffin OR speaker:Matt Shanahan OR speaker:Norma Foley OR speaker:Paul Murphy OR speaker:Christopher O'Sullivan OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Martin Heydon OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Gerald Nash OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Jackie Cahill OR speaker:Mattie McGrath OR speaker:Malcolm Noonan OR speaker:Richard Bruton)

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)

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-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Fiona O'Loughlin: That is completely fine. My apologies. I had the opportunity to listen to the opening statements. I was quite surprised when I saw the figure of 38,055 Irish young people under the age of 19 who have some type of visual impairment. That is significant. It is quite high. Obviously, we need to do all we can to try to ensure that they can reach their potential in education, socialisation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Fiona O'Loughlin: Could the witnesses comment on the geographical disparity?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Fiona O'Loughlin: I thank the Cathaoirleach. I appreciate him accommodating me because I have a Commencement matter to raise at 1 p.m. I thank Mr. Doody for that comprehensive report. I was struck by the great work done in Drumcondra with the 63 students there. We were told that 16 visiting teachers are looking after 1,379 students, which is in stark contrast to the figure we got of 38,055 young people...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Fiona O'Loughlin: That is correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Education Needs of Visually Impaired Students: Discussion (15 Oct 2024)

Fiona O'Loughlin: I must go to the Seanad Chamber for a Commencement matter.

Report on Energy Poverty 2024: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

Dara Calleary: I thank Deputies Ó Cathasaigh and O'Rourke for their contributions. It is important to reflect on Deputy O'Rourke's comments. The retrofit plan is ambitious. We have a serious ambition here. It is also realistic. I absolutely agree with Deputy Ó Cathasaigh. We are not signing up to 220 years but we have been building capacity. In my opening remarks, I referred to the extra...

Report on Energy Poverty 2024: Motion (10 Oct 2024)

Debate adjourned.