Again, I am reluctant to refer to court proceedings but my understanding is that the decision of An Bord Pleanála in December 2016 to grant planning consent for the interconnector was the subject of two High Court judicial reviews. On 22 August 2017, the High Court upheld the development consent granted by An Bord Pleanála for the interconnector. That decision was appealed in the courts over two days in December 2017 and, on 11 January 2018, the High Court refused leave to appeal the initial judgment. The High Cour…

I thank the Deputy for his question. The first progress report of the just transition commissioner, Mr. Kieran Mulvey, published on 22 May 2020, included a recommendation that a study be undertaken of the future potential of the ESB power stations at Lanesborough, Lough Ree power station, and Shannonbridge, West Offaly power station, for the establishment of a dedicated energy hub in the midlands. This was subsequently included as a commitment in the programme for Government. A feasibility study into the establishm…

I do not believe we should pre-empt the review and whatever options are presented. In my mind, nothing has been excluded. I have said throughout the process that if Deputies have proposals or plans they want to submit or share, they should by all means put them into the mix. There are no exemptions regarding potential uses. The ESB does have an interest. It has a long-standing involvement with the plant and local community, with genuine benefits and commitment. People from the local community are involved. The inte…

As I said in my earlier response, an international consultancy firm with absolute expertise in the area has reviewed the proposals coming forward. I accept that while one listens to what international experts have to say, one should listen to views that contradict them. If the Deputy believes there is an economic solution that has not been considered, he should submit it. I will ask my officials or others to examine why it was not considered. This was an open process. It is not as if people are trying to protect a …

No, but as discussed previously, there will be jobs in the development of this balancing system, this energy system, and there will be jobs as the ESB works with Bord na Móna, Coillte and other developers in developing new renewable power supplies. On the back of those jobs, other jobs will come because we will locate the industry close to the power. That is where the ESB has a vital role in the midlands and elsewhere.

I said earlier, in response to Deputy Pringle I believe, that the key is to have a variety of developers. The national broadband plan is key, particularly for those areas that the market cannot serve, but investment of the kind that Eir has made in the 300,000 additional houses in rural areas is critical. It probably now needs to start focusing on some urban areas also because some of these areas may not be accommodated by the cable network operator or other high-speed Internet providers. We need to move towards a …

On the broad strategic approach, I make reference to the network operators. The infrastructure is strange because one wants the process to be both collaborative and competitive. One wants that competitive tension so companies are forced to make investments for fear that their competitors will take the market from them. At the same time, one wants it to be collaborative with a shared infrastructure. The national broadband plan was designed with such an approach. It uses National Broadband Ireland. It is open access …

I am very glad to be here to speak to Senators today on the impacts of Covid-19 on the transport sector. The Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, will follow later this afternoon with statements to the Seanad on the impacts of Covid-19 on the aviation sector. I will speak to the detail of Covid-19 impacts on other sectors of transport and will also update Members on plans to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine for international travellers from 20 designated countries. Early this week the Government publi…

I thank the Acting Chairperson and all of the Senators for their contributions. It was a tour of the country, which started in Ranelagh village, that exotic far-distant destination. Senator McDowell encouraged us all to rethink how we do things and he is right. It is a reset moment and one in which we should reconsider what we are doing and what we might do next. I would argue with Senator McDowell that what may come next is the village of Roosky or the town of Strokestown, which he would know-----

This is a chance for such places to be revived. Senator McDowell seemed to indicate that perhaps people do not want to live in villages or towns. I would ask the Senator to rethink this because there is huge benefit in being able to live within walking distance of one's local pub, school or church. The villages and towns we have throughout the country, including the 19th century market towns in particular, have incredible architecture and are underused. We have a lot of gaps and boarded-up high street premises. The…

I will conclude and I hope I do not disrespect any Member I may have left out. I will finish up with Senator Burke's comments. I was a family friend of the Ryan's. Jim Ryan was behind the building of Knock airport in the first place. He and Monsignor Horan were centrally involved. Jim Ryan, a returned immigrant from Australia, talked up the prospects of Knock airport and we all thought at the time that he was mad. He spoke of flights coming in and out every day, and everyone was nodding at him and saying "That's ri…

That is no problem at all.

We agree on this: we have to reduce right down the volume of people travelling in and out of this country and to restrict and stop non-essential travel. That is what we are doing and what the Garda Síochána is doing. As I understand it, the Minister for Justice will have all the details in terms of those being fined at our airports for doing exactly that. The latter is a clear signal that this is not simply advisory. We are saying that there should not be any non-essential travel. Where people do come, I believe it…

My understanding is that what we are actually doing now is very similar to what was in that letter from back in May of last year. It applied to non-residents of Ireland. The traffic coming in and out of Dublin Airport is mainly Irish residents. There is hardly any traffic coming out of any of the other airports, or indeed seaports: it is down to nil pretty much. I understand that back in May of last year the health authorities were suggesting a very similar approach to what is being taken, namely that non-Irish res…

I did not comment directly in response to that. I think An Garda Síochána did and I will let it speak on Garda operational matters. The Deputy made various points about testing and tracing. We get pretty much weekly updates from the special Cabinet subcommittee on Covid. On Monday this week we met with the deputy CMO, Dr. Ronan Glynn, Mr. Paul Reid, Professor Brian MacCraith and various other officials who set out what is the latest situation. I am relating what I hear at those meetings. The Deputy was absolutely r…

Second, there was the recommendation that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines be used on older people. The third challenge was because of the AstraZenenca numbers dropping below-----

In each instance, they have been incredibly flexible. They will set out a roadmap.

We have seen all that sort of detail. What I was setting out is that I have seen how the plans had to change. It all had to be radically changed on several occasions. I believe and it is expected that exactly what the roadmap is will be set out in more detail. I think it will be possible to do that now because, for the first time, there is some sort of clarity around the international supply of the vaccine. That was not certain until now. Last week, we saw the AstraZeneca numbers change radically. The entire plan h…

I agree with Deputy Verona Murphy that we need more balanced regional development. The national planning framework is a guideline for much of the work I do as Minister for Transport. It is critical to get more balanced regional development. If I recall correctly, approximately 97% roll-on, roll-off traffic comes through Dublin Port. That is an imbalance we need to address. I had a very good meeting with representatives of Foynes Port yesterday. They are looking at the potential development of container business fro…

I remember visiting the port in Rosslare 17 or 18 years ago when the first offshore wind farm was being built. The blades and turbines were deployed from Rosslare Harbour. It seems that the port has many of the characteristics we will need, considering the significant investment we are going to make in the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea areas. We expect an auction system early next year. Prior to that, it is critical that we get the Marine Planning and Development Management Bill through this House in order that we can s…