Results 1-20 of 1,172,136 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Kieran O'Donnell OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Matt Carthy OR speaker:Catherine Connolly OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh OR speaker:Francis Noel Duffy OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív19 OR speaker:Gino Kenny OR speaker:Jennifer Whitmore OR speaker:Thomas Gould OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív06 OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Colm Brophy OR speaker:Holly Cairns)

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

Brian Leddin: I have received apologies from Senator Higgins, although she indicated she may be able to join us at some point. We are meeting to discuss the public sector climate action mandate. On behalf of the committee, I welcome from the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, Ms Anne Stewart, assistant secretary, Mr. David O’Brien, principal officer, and Mr. Andrew Bogie, principal officer....

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

Brian Leddin: I thank Ms Stewart for her opening statement and call Mr. Walsh of the SEAI for his statement.

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

Brian Leddin: I thank Mr. Walsh for his statement. I will go to colleagues who indicate they will ask questions. We will call on them in order. I will kick off with a question for Ms Stewart or her colleagues, whoever wishes to take it. The committee has done quite a lot of work. Today, we will publish our report on the circular economy. Deputy Bruton has led the committee on coming up with...

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

Brian Leddin: The reporting structures are in place or are being developed for a future direction.

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

Brian Leddin: I thank Mr. O'Brien for that. That relates to new buildings, obviously.

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

Brian Leddin: It is to these that the EU directive applies. However, I am wondering about existing buildings. Is any work being done to account for or, at least, capture the data relating to embodied carbon in existing buildings? Where a public sector body is looking for a new premises, one option might be to build a new building. That building might be gold standard, but existing buildings will have...

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

Brian Leddin: I thank Mr. O'Brien for that. I do not know if SEAI wants to speak about embodied carbon in existing buildings.

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

Brian Leddin: Does Mr. Meally expect to have the roadmap at the end of this year?

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

Brian Leddin: I thank Mr. Meally for that.

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)

Brian Leddin: We have targets for 2030, which is five years away, but that has not been budgeted for, essentially. I am not saying it is SEAI's role but it is a political decision to budget for that level of investment to achieve our targets.

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

Brian Leddin: That is interesting. Is the €13 billion estimate very much aligned with the 2030 target or is it the net zero?

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

Brian Leddin: Okay. Is Deputy Bruton happy?

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)

Brian Leddin: Deputy Whitmore is next.

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...