I will bring that to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan and draw it to his attention, and I thank Senator Currie for raising it in the House today.

The Minister for Justice believes it would not be appropriate for me to provide details on, or make reference to, the specific project to which the Senator refers. The IIP was established more than a decade ago, during a time of unprecedented economic difficulty, to stimulate investment in Ireland that would be of strategic and public benefit to the State. However, it is important that we keep all programmes under review, including any implications for wider public policy, such as the continuing appropriateness and…

I hear Senator O'Loughlin's sincere passion for this project and I understand she wants to get a good resolution for it. I feel the same when representing anybody. The Senator indicated that the project was already approved. I am told by the Department that projects that have already been approved are not affected. I presume this refers to an additional requirement for money, which has not yet been approved and is subject to appraisal. I think Senator O'Loughlin is asking that I go back to the Department and ask th…

I will take the Senator's request back to the Department of Justice. I think she understands that not every request for funding is automatically approved. There has to be an appraisal process. As a result of the announcement of the wind-down of the funding programme, there has been a large increase in the volume of inquiries and submitted requests. Those requests that have been received are causing a large workload for the Department, which is working as fast as it possibly can. I will take Senator O'Loughlin's spe…

While the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, unfortunately cannot be present due to a prior commitment, she has asked me to thank the House for the invitation to update it on the progress of the technical working group on TV licence reform and enhancement. A healthy independent media sector is vital for our society in general, our culture and our democratic processes. The media, and public service media in particular, is a source of independent and trusted news…

The goal of the report is to find a sustainable and fair funding model that responds to the changing technological landscape. We have moved away from the time when there was a black-and-white TV licence and a colour TV licence, to people watching TV on their laptops or hearing it on their phones. We need a sustainable model if we are to have public sector broadcasting. A detailed analysis was carried out and, to be fair to the Minister, she only received the report a number of weeks ago. She has to consider somethi…

I also welcome all the guests to the Seanad for this debate. I thank Senator Boylan for raising this issue. I wish to report on further measures the Government is taking to enable consumers to become more involved in and aware of their own energy usage. At an EU level, the REPowerEU programme calls for much more citizen engagement with the clean energy transition to empower citizens to take action. Since November 2022, customers have been able to access their smart meter data directly from ESB Networks, following t…

The Senator is asking not how many people are working in demand-side reduction but how many people are working on reducing demand.

I will clarify with her afterwards exactly what figures she wants, which I am happy to do. I am also happy to give her or any Senator the updates or documents they want in this regard. Reducing demand, of course, involves smart meters and industry. We have changed the rules on data centres and how they can connect. It is very difficult to get a grid connection at this stage for a data centre. Two things are needed for a data centre. One is a grid connection and the other is planning permission. In future, full back…

No.

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "acknowledges the Government's response to the significant increases in energy prices for households and businesses due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; notes that: — the European Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 provides for a cap on market revenues in the electricity sector and a temporary solidarity contribution based on taxable profits in the fossil fuel production and refining sectors; — on 22nd November, 2022, t…

A range of measures are already in place to support greater levels of waste segregation and recycling and other measures will soon be introduced. The landfill levy is an important and highly successful such measure which has played an important part in Ireland’s improved waste performance since its introduction in 2002. The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act provides for a number of further measures from the waste action plan for a circular economy. These include incentivised waste collection chargin…

I appreciate that many people were shocked when one of the largest waste collectors introduced a charge for something for which it had previously not been charging. Nobody wishes to pay for something they previously did not pay for. The Deputy asked how I intend to maximise compost and recyclable waste. I do not wish to maximise compost and recyclable waste. I wish to minimise it. The national policy is to cut food waste by 50% by 2030, which is line with EU policy. Without nitpicking, the question is how do I maxi…

There is a group that did exist before I was appointed, namely, the price monitoring group. Its job is to examine the market and see if changes are needed. I have asked the group to reform. It includes an economist, people from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, and consumer experts. They have been asked to play the role of mystery shopper to find out what the prices are on the market and to recommend if we need to put in any changes. Although it is a private market, we have collection licences and there are condi…

The council lost a huge quantity of money on waste collection and does not want to go back there.

I was in Cork city last year meeting Cork City Council and the waste collectors, the people who collect the waste themselves, so that I could get a good input, in particular on dumping. I was not aware that there was a problem with anti-dumping initiatives being focused on wealthier areas. I will look into it. That is not the point of it. We are introducing CCTV very shortly to catch commercial dumping operations – criminals who are dumping in areas where they think they are going to get away with it. To respond to…

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for this question which I am very happy to answer. The Government of Ireland's national digital strategy, NDS, Harnessing Digital - The Digital Ireland Framework, is helping to drive the digital transition across the economy and society. Its ambition is to make connectivity available to everyone, including through the national broadband plan, remote working hubs and broadband connection points, with a target of having all Irish households and businesses covered by a gigabit network not later…

It is a seven-year project. It started in 2020 and it will end at the end of 2026. That is the seven years. If you are in year six or seven, you are probably not happy and you would prefer to be in earlier years. There was a move towards acceleration at the start, then the project went slow during the pandemic and for various reasons it then began to accelerate. We are now passing our targets. We are now at the rate where by the end of 2026 everybody will be passed. We are back on the original target. The speed of …

Our national strategy is for everybody in Ireland to have gigabit Internet by 2028. On the current timelines, everybody in rural Ireland will have it by 2026. Our rural deployment is going well. I am responsible for broadband across the whole of Ireland and not just the intervention area. I need to make sure we are not leaving black-spot islands in our urban areas. Just because you are in an urban area, it does not mean you should get broadband two years later than in a rural area. With that in mind, I have been ex…

Recently we completed research into the benefits of broadband in rural Ireland. Analysys Mason completed it for us to check we are meeting our cost-benefit. The cost-benefit of the project has greatly improved since it was first evaluated. It clearly was, in retrospect, the right thing to do. It has the following effect, in simple terms. A rural village would previously have hoped for jobs through the erection of a factory. Now people are coming back with jobs and money, living near their families in that village a…