The Glashaboy River flood relief scheme in the Glanmire-Sallybrook area of Cork is being progressed by Cork City Council. The Office of Public Works, in partnership with Cork City Council, is engaging proactively to progress the flood relief scheme for Glanmire. The Glashaboy flood relief scheme was confirmed in January 2021 by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform under the Arterial Drainage Acts 1945 to 1995. The scheme is being funded from the €1.3 billion in flood relief measures under the national dev…

I am assured by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform that funding for this project has been secured. That is definitive. Second, I understand that these 103 families are now facing the risk of flooding but also the fear that they cannot ensure their properties. I understand this is a matter of urgency. The first tender process collapsed due to inflation problems, which I spoke to the Deputy about at the time. The whole framework for procurement has been changed to take into account and remove the inflatio…

I thank the Deputies. Behind every one of these flood relief schemes are tales of people who are going through the anxiety, financial damage and mental trauma of having to deal with risk to their family home and their finances. I can confirm that the money has been secured. I stand beside the Minister of Public Expenditure and Reform to say that very clearly. Unfortunately, the tender for the project went ahead during perhaps the worst period for a public procurement tender to happen during a period of rampant infl…

I am informed that a flood alleviation options assessment for flooding at Ballycar Lough was initiated by Iarnród Éireann and was completed by consultant engineers RPS in December 2020. This assessment study built on previous reports of 2011 and 2015 commissioned by Iarnród Éireann. Having considered all various options, the assessment study recommends a new preferred option of a technically viable drainage scheme that would prevent flooding of the railway occurring while also including any flood mitigation measure…

There were five options recommended by the assessment study. The first was removing underground restriction between the swallow hole and spring and ancillary works. The second was attenuation of some flows at Rossroe and Fin loughs. The third was diverting the Rossroe Lough sub-catchment flow towards the Ratty river catchment along with removing the underground restriction between the swallow hole and the spring. The fourth was raising the existing railway embankment in the vicinity of Ballycar Lough. The fifth was…

The Deputies have done the right thing in meeting both Departments. It is a key role of all politicians to broker agreement between different parties. The view of the OPW is that it is acting in an advisory role. Deputy Leddin is telling me the Department of Transport is saying it is an OPW job. We have all been in this situation before. I will bring the Deputies' comments back to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan. It is a multimillion-euro project of between seven and ten years so it cannot happen quickly. I…

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to discuss this question on the role of direct air capture, DAC. Direct air capture of CO2 involves a system where air from the atmospheres flows over an absorbent material and selectively removes the CO2. The CO2 is then released in a concentrated stream for disposal or for reuse. The absorbent material is regenerated and the CO2-depleted air is returned to the atmosphere. DAC differs from carbon capture and storage, which seeks to capture CO2 from point sources such as flue…

There are three key responses to the mitigation of climate change. There is the switch to renewable energies, such as wind power and solar power, to replace fossil fuels. We then have energy efficiency, for example, retrofitting homes and, finally, measures that remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. Those things all have different prices per tonne that we line up, but we do not just go with the one measure that has the best answer. We have to have an array of things. It is like a balanced diet. We nee…

I am advised by National Broadband Ireland, NBI, that, as of 28 October 2022, more than 97,000 premises can order or preorder a high-speed broadband connection, with in excess of 87,700 premises passed and available for immediate connection. Construction is under way across all 26 counties, demonstrating that the project is reaching scale. To date, the level of connections is increasing daily and is in line with or exceeding our expectations. I am advised that 3,334 premises in County Louth are now available to ord…

The way the NBP contract works is that the contractor is paid only when it connects 100% of an area. Every single home in a deployment area has to be connected for the contractor to get its payment, which is different from what happens in the urban areas. As the rural areas are connected, there will be no black spots in them. The urban areas are where I am concerned about black spots. I am the Minister of State with responsibility for broadband in all of Ireland, not just the rural areas. The NBP is there to remove…

Starting with Louth, as I said, 3,334 homes out of 8,837 have been passed, making it the number one county in Ireland for connections. For those who need connection and do not yet have it, and have been waiting for three or more years, we have provided information on the website. We want to be honest and let people know they will have to make other arrangements. The three technologies available are fixed wireless access, 5G or satellite connection for somebody who needs to have something and cannot have fibre to a …

I am advised by NBI that, as of 28 October 2022, over 97,000 premises can order or pre-order high-speed broadband connections. More than 87,700 premises have been passed and are ready for immediate connection. Construction is under way across 26 counties. This demonstrates that the project is reaching scale. NBI has advised that over 3,334 premises in County Louth are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection. The area referred to in the question is covered by the River…

I hear the Deputy and have read that letter. I can see there is a personal story behind it of somebody who has moved home to their parents to save money for a house and then found they do not have the connection they need to run their business, and I understand that. It is not just to run a business because you need the Internet if you want to work from home, study from home or even just conduct your social life. It is absolutely essential. It is a utility. It is like providing water or electricity, so everybody ne…

At this rate, NBI is passing by 5,000 homes every month. Next year, that will accelerate to 7,000 homes per month. Approximately 100,000 Irish families in rural Ireland who had no decent broadband Internet access will have fibre broadband by the end of the year. The project is back on track after really being set back during the pandemic. The Deputy said there is a sense from the people he represents that the roll-out is never going to happen. It certainly is going to happen. Rural Ireland will be 100% connected. O…

I thank the Senators for the opportunity to present this Bill. Having regard to the unprecedented pressures on the energy sector, I am pleased to have the opportunity to commend the Development (Emergency Electricity Generation) Bill 2022 to the House. I shall open the debate by setting the context for the action to be taken on foot of this Bill, which will provide for emergency measures for temporary electricity generation development to ameliorate and protect the security of electricity supply in the State becaus…

I thank Senators for their engagement in respect of this Bill. I welcome the broad range of contributions. I will keep my comments focused on the content and purpose of the Bill. If I have time, however, I will address each of the statements that were made. The most immediate factor affecting security of electricity supply in Ireland in the coming years is the potential generation capacity shortfall, as identified in the generation capacity statement. To be clear, there are three reasons why we have a shortfall of …

I thank the Senator. As Senator Boylan is aware, the EIA directive continues to apply fully. We cannot pass legislation in this House that overrides the directive in any way. It must be compliant with the legislation. I understand the concern is that the proposal may appear to be open-ended or that it could be used to approve other developments or projects. To be clear, what I am asking the House to approve is that the delivery of 450 MW of electricity generation for installation by next winter is considered to be …

One of the criteria is that we have sufficient grid capacity to attach new generation capacity, so we can distribute and transmit the electricity from the site. Another is that we must have a brownfield site that already has a power station on it. We are looking for sites that have had recent environmental assessments carried out, which can help us with our future assessments and give us an idea that we are going to pass the environmental assessment. We also want to consider whether we expect that this is going to …

I am going to respond to amendments Nos. 2 and 3 together. They relate to the insertion of an additional Oireachtas approval between the assessment of An Bord Pleanála and the approval to be issued by the Minister. I propose to reject these amendments as they would add an unnecessary step to the process that could delay the commencement of on-site works. The second amendment requires the Minister to only approve the designated development further to an additional process set out in amendment No. 3. That process req…

Political accountability is extremely important, and the Senator's proposal seeks to ensure the Minister is answerable to the relevant committee regarding progress on foot of the passing of the Bill. I agree with this but the requirement to report to the committee within a specified timeframe is not necessary. This is a project of critical national importance and every endeavour will be made to ensure it succeeds. The Minister brought the Bill before the Oireachtas in a public manner that demonstrates openness and …