Dialogue is key. The Oireachtas committee will have a role in that. We represent communities and can provide a forum where people can come in, on the record, to engage in the whole process. We also need to go beyond that and beyond the regional assemblies that have been set up so far, to much more local and detailed discussions on what this transition is going to look like. From my perspective, the broad European approach gives us room because it is not a case of top down or that the Commission knows best. It is tr…

The Programme for Government - Our Shared Future sets out the Government's response to the significant challenges facing the country including the fallout from Covid-19, decarbonising our economy and creating a sustainable future for all. My Department is central to many of the transformative changes envisaged in the programme including climate action and the digital agenda. Programme for Government commitments will be incorporated into a new statement of strategy for my Department, required under the Public Servic…

After years of working in this area, it is my assessment that we often focus on the technology, the wires, the hardware and the way one gets digital information moved from one place to the other. I believe that the key issue for success is in the use and actual behavioural side of it and in what ways the technology is used. The actual soft application side can be more important than the aspect we all focus on, which is the technology side. One must have the technology to be able to start using it but if we can take…

On the last point, I do not believe the contractual arrangements are agreed about the exact route network options that will be used. In opposition, and now in government, I have argued there is much strategic sense in using the ESB network in deploying some of this architecture, and that there is real benefit. There is an electricity wire going to every house in the country. That might provide some synergy in developing broadband. To give a specific example of how the roll-out to work, the first phase of about 300 …

Often during Minister's questions, a Minister will respond by saying they will revert to the Deputy with further information. In this case, I will throw it back the other way and ask the Deputy if he will provide me with much more details about that officer in Meath County Council. If it is working well, it is something we could examine and support and ensure that every other council does the same. This is exactly the sort of learning by doing, learning by best practice and swapping stories that we need to do. If t…

I fully support increased climate ambition at EU level and welcome the publication of the EU climate law proposal, including the delivery of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions at EU level by 2050. The EU climate law is currently under negotiation in the Council, and the impact assessment to increase the EU 2030 climate ambition will be published this summer with a view to reaching agreement later this year. While the targets and ambitions under the European green deal are still being negotiated, I will continue to p…

Those targets will probably not be ambitious enough. My sense from yesterday's European Council meeting is that there was a clear majority of Ministers representing a majority of states and population who were willing to look at a higher reduction target than 40% but a reduction of 50% to 55%. It has not been possible to get European Union agreement on it yet but I believe that it is close and must be achieved by the end of the year. That will have knock-on consequences. To achieve the 32% target for renewables or …

I hope to have it in September or October, whenever the 100-day limit is. It must come within that sort of timeframe. The benefit of that timeframe is that it will be in tune with the timing of the European climate legislation. It will also allow us to be in tune with the new national economic plan which has to incorporate the scale of change that brings. People have asked why the target is 7% per annum. The science demands it. It brings a scale of change without historic comparison in terms of the speed and change…

I thank the Deputy for his kind words. I look forward to working with him, hopefully in closer quarters when we return to the Dáil Chamber. The high-speed broadband map shows the areas in Cork East which will be included in the national broadband plan, as well as areas targeted by commercial operators. As I said earlier, the map is colour coded and searchable by address and Eircode. Premises in the amber area will be provided with high-speed broadband through the State-led intervention, the contract for which was s…

I would be happy to do that. I agree with the Deputy's assessment that the establishment of digital hubs provides huge opportunities, particularly for Irish towns and villages, to restore commercial and retail life to the centre of our historic streets in our towns. In terms of an example, the Ludgate Hub in Skibbereen has shown how we can progress. There are other examples. The commitment in the programme for Government to a towns first type policy, which is about restoring enterprise to the centre of our streets …

One of the areas on which we can work together is the identification of premises that might be appropriate. Local authorities and community enterprise have a critical role in identifying premises for the creation of such digital hubs. By definition being wireless they can be located anywhere. The purpose of the national broadband plan is to bring connectivity to the individual house. For retailers, publicans and other community facilities that have experienced difficulty in recent years digital hubs provide us with…

It is vital that we ensure that community energy can play a role in reaching at least 70% renewable electricity, including a community benefit fund and a community category within the renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, auction; and that we aim to continue to work with the EU to agree community participation as an integral part of installing new renewable energy and a route for community participation in the projects. The renewable electricity support scheme, which will support the development of many dozen…

I send my thoughts to Deputy Cowen and his family. It is incredibly difficult when one loses office in the circumstances we witnessed last night. There are issues and questions again about how people's personal private data are revealed to the public and we have to look at that in a variety of different ways. Regardless of that matter, it is true what the Taoiseach said in that we in the political system are held to higher standards. That is particularly the case when it comes to people questioning the integrity, i…

I move: THAT provision be made to amend provisions for the charging of the levies under Parts 5 and 5A of the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007, to amend the purposes for which the levy under Part 5 of the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007 is collected so that these include contributing to the funding of the Climate Action Fund in accordance with that Act as amended, and to further amend and extend the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007 to make provision for the establishment and operation of the Climate…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I am pleased to be here to answer Deputy Jackie Cahill's question and continue to engage with him on this vital issue. We have been able to continue to provide a limited but important public transport service through the Covid-19 crisis. I worked in the tourism sector for many years and recognise the important role that private bus and coach operators provide to the Irish people. We must ensure that they survive this crisis as best we can. While the majority of public transport in Irela…

We will very much take the figures and the information Deputy Cahill has provided will help. My colleague, the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Catherine Martin, recognises that the coach industry in the tourism sector is in real trouble, along with so many other aspects of the sector. We need to be sector-specific in recognising this. The loss of the coach tourism business has been cataclysmic this summer and it is facing into a difficult winter. I will certainly try to incorporate the idea…

An Comhaontas Glas will be supporting the nomination of Deputy Micheál Martin for Taoiseach today. The Irish people may well ask why it has taken us almost five months to get to this point. We should first reassure them that for most of that period we stepped back collectively as a Parliament to support the caretaker Government in the management of the unique health crisis that we faced. I would like to pay tribute to the outgoing Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, his Ministers, the public servants and above all the …

It is a great honour to be a part of the acting out of our Constitution here today. Appointing a Taoiseach and being a part of the Cabinet appointed by him is the greatest honour in our democratic, constitutional Republic, and we seek to live up to that as best we can. The Cabinet has a pivotal role in the Irish Constitution and political decision-making. We operate a system with collective Cabinet responsibility which also brings collective Cabinet authority. I may be wrong, but I understand that the traditional p…

On behalf of our party, I pass on our sympathies and prayers to the family of Colm Horkan following the terrible, tragic loss of his life in the line of duty last week. It reinforces the sense of pride in An Garda Síochána and the founding principles of that organisation, which involve policing with the trust of the people, which is reinforced when one sees the like of his service and the loss that his family has suffered. As others have said today, ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. I join in congratulating the Go…

Two days ago, George Floyd was buried. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the African-American people who have been under the knee of suppression for so long. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis. The Black Lives Matter movement is strengthening and correctly building a community response to what needs to be done in the United States but we would all agree that our support for it is best reflected in what we do to counter racism in our own country. I was glad to see yesterday that the Taoiseach had an on…