That is a very detailed supplementary question. The Deputy will appreciate that I do not have all the details to hand. I could not do justice to the question by answering it orally right now but I will provide all the column headings according to all the questions the Deputy has asked and will give him in tabulated form the answer to his question in consultation with my colleague, Deputy O'Donovan.

The one-stop shops are now up to speed. We have delivered double the number of retrofits in this period of the year compared to the same period last year. We need to do that. The retrofit programme for the decade involves an exponential increase in the number of retrofits being delivered until we reach 500,000 homes retrofitted by 2030. We cannot do that without having a large programme of skill development at the same time. We expect to need 30,000 trained people to be able to deliver those retrofits every year. T…

The Government has committed to €165 billion in capital investment through the NDP, which was published in 2021. As a percentage of national income, annual capital investment is now among the largest in the EU. In 2023, almost €13 billion will fund vital infrastructure in areas such as housing, transport, education, enterprise, sport and climate action. Achieving value for money and reducing cost and schedule overruns is a vital part of delivering the NDP. However, the Government and I acknowledge that the signific…

Earlier this evening I spoke about the ESRI review. Part of the renaming of the Department to include NDP delivery involves asking an external agency to look at the exact question the Deputy asked, namely, what the barriers are to NDP delivery. We have asked the ESRI to assess what constraints we are reaching, what capacity constraints we have, what changes we might need to make and how to avoid simply adding to inflation by spending more money. We have received that report from the ESRI. It is being assessed at th…

I will start with Deputy Durkan. Certainly, there are some types of investment that are deflationary, such as providing more housing for example. The delivery of the projects can help reduce inflation. There is a wide variety of inflationary effects depending on what you are investing in, and how much labour is involved is a part of it. That is the analysis we are looking at. I think Deputy Durkan referred to what our previous Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, called the swans and the snails interrupting infrastructure proj…

As Ireland has committed to achieving ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, with key milestones in 2030 and 2050, the Government's assessment of any new investments it is considering making should consider the impact these investments will have on greenhouse gas emissions. Including a valuation of the cost that will be borne to eliminate any emissions a project may give rise to in an economic appraisal is a means of doing this. Placing a value on greenhouse gas emissions allows the economic appraisal…

The updated guidelines on the shadow price of carbon will be published by the end of the year. The Deputy discusses the different ways to measure the price of carbon. He is absolutely right. We could use the emissions trading scheme price, which changes all the time on international markets, or look at what the carbon tax is set at. One thing to be considered is that it is not just one number. The Deputy said I probably had a number in mind that I would arrive at. In fact, there is a different price of carbon every…

The public spending code is being revised, restructured and simplified. The infrastructure guidelines are being updated since they were last issued in 2019, the ones that relate to the shadow price of carbon. I think the Deputy is alluding to the shadow price of nature as well. Biodiversity has a value. That probably would have been a strange thing to say ten years ago but people understand now that nature is worth something, including in terms of our quality of life. If you have an economic project involving the d…

Although this question is about flooding, it is not for my colleague, Deputy O'Donovan, to answer because it is a question for the consenting authority, who is the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. I refer to previous updates on this matter given to the House regarding the consent process for the River Deel flood relief scheme, prepared by the Office of Public Works under the Arterial Drainage Acts. The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform is the consenting authority for flood relief schemes, which are …

I appreciate and understand the feelings of Deputy Conway-Walsh's constituents on this matter. It has taken a long time to reach consent for this scheme because it is such a large scheme and has to be done under the Arterial Drainage Act. We have to follow the law. The role the Minister is playing is similar to the role of An Bord Pleanála. We are at the stage, having received final reports from the OPW, that those reports need to be assessed by ecological experts and outside consultants. That is required by law. T…

I agree it takes too long to reach decisions on these schemes. It is similar to a planning application. An application is made, and there is a period of time for submissions and public consultation. If additional information is required, we have to go back out, take submissions and listen to the public again. When the public consultation periods and additional information are over, the application has to considered by experts. That is required by the law. The reason we have to stick to the law is he recent experien…

The current Civil Service disciplinary code applies to all civil servants. The code sets out the arrangements for dealing with disciplinary matters in the Civil Service. It is ensures that all civil servants are aware that if there is a failure to adhere to the required standards of conduct, work performance and attendance, the disciplinary procedure set out in the code will apply. Senior civil servants, including Secretaries General are subject to the Civil Service disciplinary code, apart from three particular sa…

Listening to this debate people may get the impression that Secretaries General are not subject to any kind of disciplinary framework or oversight. That is not true. Under the Civil Service disciplinary code 13 separate sanctions are outlined covering everything from verbal warning, written warning, final written warning, extension of the period of validity of a warning, deferral of an increment, debarment from competitions, withdrawal of concessions, reassignment to different location or different duties and withd…

If anything, the Secretaries General should be held to a higher standard than other Civil Servants because they have so much influence and because they are paid so much, and because they are people who set an example for everybody else. Often in an organisation, the personality, behaviour and character at the head of it flows down and is reflected in the behaviours of all the people who report to that person and so on. It forms the character of the organisation. That is why the performance management review group w…

The implementation of specific recommendations, awards or adjudications from the Labour Court or other equivalent industrial relations bodies, are matters for the relevant employer or Department, as appropriate, in the first instance. The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform has responsibility for the terms and conditions of civil servants, as provided for under section 17 of the Civil Service Regulation Act. As the Deputy may be aware, civil servants do not have access to the Labour Court. Civi…

What the Minister would say is that this is primarily a matter for the Minister for Health, as I presume the HSE is the employer. Since the person is a public sector employee but not a civil servant, he or she is likely to be able to raise his or her dispute through the Labour Court system. The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform would not be the deciding person. Rather, this would be a matter for the chief executive of the HSE, reporting to the Minister for Health. I advise the Deputy to speak…

I am glad that the Deputy is going to take it up directly with him. Everyone agrees that the Labour Court and the WRC have served us well. There are a relatively small number of industrial disputes in Ireland and those that do happen are often resolved amicably. The Labour Court plays a role in being able to decide and recommend on what is fair. It is then up to the employer and employees to work that out and come to an agreement, follow that advice or see how it should be followed. This matter is primarily one for…

I thank Senator Blaney for asking this question. The Climate Action Plan 2023 sets out a roadmap for taking decisive action to halve our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to reach net zero not later than 2050. To halve our emissions and set ourselves on the road to net zero, we have to deliver, and accelerate where possible, the renewable electricity targets set in the Climate Action Plan 2023. These targets include 80% of electricity demand being met from renewable energy by 2030. Accelerating the delivery of a…

I would like to work with the Senator to find out what is happening in terms of renewable electricity generated in Donegal and what quantity is being generated there. The reason offshore wind is being developed on the east coast before the west coast is twofold: there is a larger population on the east coast and, more importantly, it is easier to put turbines off the east coast because the waters there are shallower. The west coast is windier than the east coast, so there is more potential for generating electricit…

The amendments in this group are minor technical amendments which have been identified to provide greater clarity and reduce uncertainty for stakeholders and for affected parties. Amendments Nos. 1 and 3 result in moving the definition of "affiliated person" from section 14 to section 1. There is also additional text provided, which results in a more comprehensive definition and provides greater clarity. Amendment No. 2 is a clarification that export-only suppliers are a particular case of generators and not all de…