I thank the Deputy for raising this important topic. I will set out the policy position and outline the views of stakeholders on the issue. I will then discuss the proposed consultation. The current legislative framework does not for the most part allow for privately-owned power lines. The ESB is the sole distribution asset owner and ESB Networks is the sole distribution system operator in the State. On a practical level this means the ESB owns the electricity distribution while ESB Networks, a subsidiary of the ES…

The consultation is due to conclude at the very latest early next year but the officials hope it can be concluded before the end of this year. I will be very keen to see a rapid conclusion. It will not come to a decision but it will elucidate the various views. This is a complex issue. It has been looked at for many years. It has been stalled by concerns about possible unintended consequences. My view is that we are in changing market circumstances. Power is very tight and we are now at the very edge of any country…

I am honoured to bring the Bill before the Seanad. It is a substantial Bill that addresses a wide range of necessary areas of legislation and meets a number of commitments in the programme for Government. The Bill will contribute a great deal to improvements on our roads and, above all, to greater safety for all road users. In the programme for Government, we committed to legislating for e-scooters and e-bikes. We also committed to addressing the menace of the anti-social use of scramblers and other vehicles. The B…

I thank Senators for their contributions and support for the Bill. I hope to briefly address some of the issues raised and we can return to them on Committee Stage and Report Stage. To respond to Senator Boyhan, it is currently possible to pay a fixed-charge notice issued by An Garda Síochána in advance in the way the Senator set out. The Bill expands this to notices issued by traffic wardens. It will hopefully expand the mechanism whereby people do not have to go to court or spend a length of time in court. The Se…

I do not see any reason to delay it.

I apologise. It was Senator Horkan who raised that point. On e-scooter rental and parking, we have seen e-scooter schemes across the world that created a nuisance effect with scooters littered everywhere. Much of this is a matter for regulation and we will take the Senators' comments on board when looking at that. We want e-scooter sharing schemes. They bring real benefits but we should learn the lessons from elsewhere. I will not assign each response to a Senator. The question of autonomous vehicles was raised. Th…

I can give the good news that the 50% reduction for those under the age of 24 was extended to commercial bus operators on 4 September. I am glad to say that we have further extended it to those aged 16, 17 and 18 who had missed out. Therefore, the rules are changing and people to whom it did not apply will be able to benefit from lower fares.

In the coming weeks. It is a question of weeks rather than months. It is my understanding that it takes a certain number of weeks to change the software. I think it should be in fairly quickly.

It was changed two or three weeks ago so hopefully we should be there. Amendments were made in the Dáil with regard to variable speed limits. The speed limit is based on default limits for different classes of roads, with local authorities allowed to set special speed limits on specific roads in their areas. The published Bill proposes allowing TII to set special speed limits in order to provide for variable speed limits. However, this mechanism requires a by-law each time a limit is set, which would not be practic…

It is a very valid point. I wondered about this as the Senator was speaking because when I was in Ennis a few weeks ago, I had to decide how to get home. I went with the green bus rather than the train in the end. The question I wanted to ask of the Senator was whether one can get from Ennis to Cork by bus at an earlier time.

I accept the Senator's point. That makes real sense, particularly these days when many people may be remote working, and travelling two and three days per week rather than going in every day. I will raise that issue with Irish Rail

The Cork people are chipping in and adding to the case. We will look at that.

I agree.

This Government has three central goals. We need to provide affordable housing for our people, we need to deliver health reform and we need to accelerate climate action. We have to stick to that course and focus on those three tasks while also managing an energy crisis that arrived on our shores in a way that no one could have expected. Energy is being used as a weapon of war and that has affected and changed everything. This has become the issue we need to urgently address. We have to make sure that we address thi…

I understand the points made by Opposition Deputies, including the technical point about whether it counts as a financial resolution. However, I think they would also understand and agree that the world is full of uncertainty around economic developments and so on. It is important for us to give clarity and strength of purpose to-----

-----putting the funds into the reserve fund. It is appropriate for us to debate that tonight.

I move: (1) THAT for the purposes of the tax charged by virtue of section 95 of the Finance Act 1999 (No. 2 of 1999), that Act be amended, with effect as on and from 28 September 2022, by the substitution of the following for Schedule 2 to that Act: “SCHEDULE 2 Rates of Mineral Oil Tax (2) IT is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution shall have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1927 (No. 7 of 1927).

Energy credits and the emergency purchase of generation were one-off payments, which were not to be repeated the next year. It is not a cut in the budget at all.

Sorry, through the Chair.

There has been a real 32% increase in that budget.