I see the relationship as one of co-operation. Primary responsibility will lie with the NCSC. That is proper and it mirrors best practice throughout the EU, where it is in the civil authorities that overall control and cybersecurity management rest. That will involve a lot of collaboration and personnel moving from the Defence Forces into this area. That provides for a healthy level of operational cohesion. The Defence Forces have specific responsibilities, including in managing their own security and systems. That…

The programme for Government underlines that carbon tax has an important role to play in addressing behaviours with negative externalities, in this case greenhouse gas emissions. It, therefore, commits to increasing carbon tax to €100 per tonne by 2030, through annual increases of €7.50 per annum to 2029 and €6.50 in 2030. The clear view of the joint Oireachtas committee was that the introduction of a carbon tax would have to be based on measures to prevent fuel poverty. It is in that context that the programme for…

It is true that I was, and still am, an advocate of the fee-and-dividend model. At all times during the discussions of the joint Oireachtas committee at which we were focusing on how to protect people from fuel poverty, I said clearly that I would not rule out the hypothecation model if it could be designed and structured in a way that achieved the same objectives. I referred to the three-way split. Elements include the allocation of some €3 billion to increase social welfare provisions or other measures specifical…

Again, I do not have the figures to hand but I will happily ask the Department to follow up on it and to forward to the Deputy the background statistics, which came from the Department of Finance's projection forward as I recall. Strangely, one would hope that in time as a variety of different measures kick in, including the carbon tax, our use of fuels will decrease and the revenue numbers will fall from that sector. It is clear that carbon tax is an element of this but it is not the only one. The key measures are…

The Deputy is right that the just transition we seek in the midlands is critical. It has to be delivered and it is the first real test of the nature of the change we will make as we start to reduce our emissions at scale. It is critical for Bord na Móna that we deliver alternative job opportunities to the sectors and regions most affected and that we ensure vulnerable groups are helped as transformative policies are implemented. The Government is committed to such a just transition, recognising the significant leve…

The Deputy is right. Those constituents of hers have to be at the centre of all of our attention. The cessation of peat extraction for industrial peat, power generation or horticultural use is a matter that is being led by the courts. The political system cannot intervene in the judicial process in that regard. However, we can start to promote the alternatives that will create the jobs that give us a sustainable future and will provide growth for Bord na Móna and for other private operators involved in managing our…

The programme for Government commits that within the lifetime of the Government we will solve the air pollution problem, which is a particular problem for many towns in the midlands, by moving away from the use of all smoky products that add to the air quality problem, especially imported products. That is a commitment. Bord na Móna's new strategic plan that came out in response to the crisis that is facing the company needs to be more ambitious again, particularly when it comes to employment generation. I believe …

I thank Deputy O'Rourke. I am aware of the anger and the intense public concern in a variety of areas but I am also aware of the critical importance of this piece of infrastructure for the island of Ireland and for co-operation North and South and the benefits for all our people. It is critical to improving the efficient operation of the single electricity market and increasing security of electricity supply across the island. It will also help us to move towards a 70% renewable electricity target, which is a commi…

The most recent estimates I have from the Department on the cost of the project is that €180 million will be incurred in the South, with the remaining €109 million being incurred in Northern Ireland. The total figure estimated by the International Expert Commission was a cost of €230 million. I do not have the figure for the cost incurred to date but I imagine it is not insignificant given, as I said, that this project has been many years within the planning process and has been reviewed extensively going back at l…

I hope we are not speaking past each other. I want to be as honest and up-front as I can be in saying I believe the project should proceed under the planning permission it has and in line with all the reviews that were done. My personal view, having looked at this in real depth and detail over the years, is that I do not believe it is technically possible or optimal to do it with an alternative design. As I said, we have to be very cognisant of health and local communities as we are building it but I believe the cu…

I thank Deputy Lawless. I look forward to his next term in the vineyard of policy ideas. He worked very effectively on the digital transformation that we need to achieve so I look forward to continuing to work with him on that. Rolling out the national broadband plan, NBP, will be central to that. This plan will provide high-speed broadband to the 1.1 million people living and working in the nearly 540,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms and 695 schools, where commercial operators currently …

I thank the Deputy. This plan was debated extensively throughout the lifetime of the last Dáil. Whatever my concerns around ownership issues and contractual arrangements, and they were real concerns, I was always supportive of the need for a rural broadband system. I am happy to take responsibility for making sure that we deliver it. It is not the only critical infrastructure that we need. Outside the areas covered by the broadband plan, ongoing investment from the likes of Eir, SIRO and other operators will be nee…

Like so many other projects the national broadband plan has been delayed slightly by the Covid-19 pandemic due to the difficulty of completing certain work but it has not been delayed as much as other projects. A lot of the work of recent months, such as surveying poles to see which ones need to be improved or upgraded, could continue. By the end of this year we expect to be pretty much on target in terms of delivery timelines. I note another factor that may help accelerate progress. We started this project in a wo…

I thank Deputy Duncan Smith. This is one of the most interesting areas. One learns so much about the infrastructure that supports our society. I look forward to working with the Deputy on this common cause. The high-speed broadband map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie , shows the areas in north County Dublin which will be included in the national broadband plan's State-led scheme, as well as areas targeted by commercial operators. The map is colour-coded and searchable by address and Eircode postcode. Pr…

The Deputy is right. Everything has changed following the pandemic. Householders are rightly seeking information. In Dublin Fingal some 6,050 premises are due to be provided with broadband under the NBP scheme. In the current plans the blue area where commercial operators are delivering or have plans to deliver, it is almost ten times that number at 57,000. That is subject to change. I expect other operators, some of which I mentioned earlier, to respond to what they see as an increase in demand. Even the networks …

I agree with the Deputy. Some very high-profile people have criticised the NBP. Strategically for the State, the guarantee that no house will be left out is critical. It is not relying on the market and we will intervene in areas where the market cannot or will not deliver. The mapping of that has been done and it is effective. The broad approach in identifying those houses is the correct one. The Deputy is correct that there has been considerable frustration in houses where they see fibre or cable going up part of…

I will read the reply into the record. The question is from yourself.

Congratulations to you as well, a Chathaoirligh. I am happy to respond to your question. Over the years we have worked on various committees together and I think you will agree that is where the most important work of the Oireachtas is done. The programme for Government sets out our ambition to more than halve our carbon emissions over this decade. The action we take in the coming years will be critical in addressing the climate crisis, which renders our current economic model redundant and threatens our safe futur…

I look forward to working with the Deputy and bringing her expertise into play on where we go from here. There was an informal meeting of the European Council of environment ministers yesterday. Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the European Commission, set out the approach the Commission is planning to take this autumn and into the new year under the German Presidency. The German minister also outlined that. We hope to see and be part of a major acceleration in ambition across the European Union to help the …

Yes to most, or all, of those comments. The Commission will work now on the new higher ambitions. Sending in the outgoing NECP proposal around the climate action plan will give us a baseline by which the new Commission can do its assessment of what a higher ambition will target, and how we would contribute to the higher ambition of at least 50% to 55% emission reductions across the European Union. This is what we now need to work on with the Commission, having moved on from the old baseline level, which everyone ag…