These projects can provide a local amenity and attraction for tourism. They preserve biodiversity and give people a sense of pride in their area. They can be part of a just transition if jobs have been lost in Bord na Móna or other organisations. Regarding wastewater treatment, I will listen to the Deputy. If she feels any projects are not getting funding, I am happy to talk to her about that. If she briefs me on that, I will come back to her.

I thank the Deputy. The community climate action programme will see more than €60 million from the climate action fund invested in supporting communities to run direct climate action projects and initiatives under strand 1 as well as capacity building under strand 2 of the programme. The 18 projects selected for funding under strand 2 of the programme are currently moving to implementation. This was an open call run by Pobal, worth €5 million, for education, capacity building and learning by doing projects. Strand …

As the Deputy said, there is a challenge with staffing. Things cannot happen without staffing. On the community climate action officers, the four Dublin local authorities are recruiting their officers on a regional basis. They expect to have staff in place by late April. The post is currently advertised on the Fingal County Council website, on behalf of the four Dublin local authorities, and the closing date for applications is 10 March. I encourage anybody who wants to work in the community climate action sector t…

I thank the Deputy. Strand 1A is open to community, voluntary and non-profit groups that want to take part. They have to partner with a local authority. As the Deputy said, there are cross-Border projects and there have been successful connections. While the senior levels of the political system in Northern Ireland may be stuck, at local authority level we are making progress. At official level we try to establish every contact we can make so that we can continue to work with Northern organisations. Much of this is…

I thank the Deputy for asking this question, which is close to my heart and which I have been following closely since we legislated for it. The policy document, A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, contains a commitment to data-proof all waste enforcement legislation to ensure all available and emerging audiovisual recording equipment, including CCTV, can be used in a manner that is compliant with the general data protection regulation, GDPR. My Department has engaged with the County and City Management Asso…

Many Deputies are aware that there were problems in the past with obtaining evidence to get prosecutions because of challenges under privacy legislation. That is why we have to be so careful that we are ensured privacy-wise that we are compliant with GDPR law in order that we do not get challenged or, if we are challenged, that we can win those challenges. The Deputy is right that Tidy Towns groups around the country are sick of having to clean up after people who are either negligent or who are criminally making m…

Deputy McAuliffe is right that we need to have positive measures. This is not just about enforcement, catching people and criminality. We have a number of different schemes to promote reduction in litter. There is an anti-dumping initiative, which provides €3 million to local authorities for clean-up operations for removing illegal waste when it has been dumped, for household bulky waste initiatives such as a so-called mattress amnesty and for getting rid of sofas, as well as awareness campaigns, preventative measu…

That is why we need the two things. We need the positive things that help people do the right thing. We also need criminal sanction and evidence against people who are criminals and who are destroying our beautiful environment.

On 14 February the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, appointed Mr. Tom Barry and Mr. Seamus Neely under section 18(5) of the Inland Fisheries Act 2010 to perform the functions of the IFI pending the appointment of a new, full board through the statutory appointments process, with the support of the Public Appointments Service, PAS. This ensures that the IFI is in a position to continue to perform its functions effectively. In addition to carrying out the core functions of the IFI, set out under section 7 of the Inland F…

The role of Mr. Barry and Mr. Neely is to oversee the preparation of a governance review of the IFI and it is their job to complete that within three to six months. The timeline for the appointment of new members to the board will be based on the availability of the Public Appointments Service to carry out that function. I cannot comment on how long that will take without asking that body, but if the Deputy reverts to me, I will give him an answer on that. As for the broader question of the current position on the …

Mr. Barry and Mr. Neely have been charged with carrying out this governance review, which amounts to an external review of the governance within the IFI. To give some information on the sequencing for Deputy O'Rourke, it includes an examination of the respective roles of the IFI board and executive. It will be completed within three to six months and include an implementation plan, and the delivery of the plan will be overseen by the new board. The responsibility for the implementation of the findings of the review…

Following the enactment of the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, draft regulations to introduce an environmental levy on single-use disposable cups were published last October for public consultation, together with a comprehensive regulatory impact assessment. The consultation ran for a period of six weeks, providing an important opportunity for all stakeholders to make their views known. The Department received a significant volume of responses to the consultation. In total, 2,371 submissions were…

The regulatory impact assessment projected 200 million cups as an absolute minimum and estimates that the real figure could be far higher than that. I expect, as a result of the public consultation, to recommend some changes to what was in the draft regulations. I spoke to many café owners throughout the country to get their direct feedback. As well as waiting for people to come to me, I went to people to ask them what they thought. I believe a number of alternatives to single-use cups will emerge whereby customers…

Yes, there is great appetite on the part of the public. Surveys are showing that people want this. However, at the same time I need to ensure that it is a successfully introduced scheme and that it takes account of all the concerns that are raised by cafés which have made their submissions so I am taking time over that. There will be some changes to the draft regulations as a result of what I read. There are cafés, such as Bread 41 on Pearse Street, that have done without disposable cups for some years and that hav…

I thank the Deputy for acknowledging that the NBP is progressing. More than 120,000 families in rural areas across Ireland can now have access to fibre broadband. One member of the public in Wexford wrote to me to say that she can now use her mobile home because she is connected to the network via fibre. The Deputy's question is very specific, and it is a good one. All new-build premises in the state intervention area are covered under the NBP project agreement. NBI identifies new premises via Geodirectory updates …

The Deputy is absolutely right. The NBP is revitalising rural Ireland. It is allowing people to spend time in their home village or at their home farm, with their family, looking after somebody and they can spend time and spend money in their local area. It might not be every day of the week, but just the being able to go back to where they are from and spend time there is breathing new life into areas. You can see it with the new businesses that are springing up in villages around the country. Our contract with NB…

In this situation, the road has been connected but their house was built since the line was put in. A survey has to be carried out before the house can be connected. The constituent is frustrated by the length of time that it is taking. That is why I am going to work with NBI to agree on a procedure. At the moment, that person is not guaranteed to get broadband within months. Under the contract, they are guaranteed to get it in years. I want to ensure they are not left until the end. This is a seven-year project. A…

The question is on the roll-out of offshore wind turbines. Seven projects have been granted licences and are being fast-tracked under the old system. A new renewable option will be run for the next phase of projects. The projects will be will be plan led rather than developer led and concentrated in certain areas. The point of this is to speed up the development of offshore wind energy projects, which is a priority in response to the war in Ukraine. It is in line with the REPowerEU strategy, which asks member state…

Offshore wind energy is a large part of the decarbonisation process and is absolutely critical. There has been no policy change. Floating wind turbines will be pursued off the west coast because the water is too deep to support fixed-base wind farms. Those of the east and south coasts, in shallower waters, will be progressed first but there has been no change. If anything, the pace has been accelerated. We will use the shortest consenting procedure we can legally obtain while being compliant with EU law. Offshore w…

We are supporting both floating and fixed turbines and there has been no policy change.