It is interesting that the Senator raised the possibility of being sued by another country. The Senator raised RWE as an example. A recent European Court of Justice ruling decided that countries within the EU cannot sue other EU member states under the Energy Charter Treaty.

These cases between EU member states are excluded as a result of that.

It is a judgment from the European Court of Justice. On the question of whether the 2 GW of power we are commissioning will be covered by the Energy Charter Treaty, it depends on which countries win the contracts to build them. Those contracts have not been agreed or specified, so the terms are not known. I take the Senator's point on how long it is going to last. We need 2 GW of power by 2030, but they are long-lasting pieces of infrastructure. Of course, as the Senator will understand, they are not designed to ru…

I very much thank Members for their contributions and for passionately making the case for projects in their areas. I welcome all their contributions and Senators' ongoing engagement with the revised national development plan. Some important issues were raised. I welcome the opportunity to clarify and elaborate on these in particular. Now that the NDP has been published, this is a critical time across all Departments in delivering on their strategic goals. In saying that, my Department is now focused on a number of…

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. I am here to answer on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Rabbitte. The Government decided to close the motorised transport grant and mobility allowance administrative grant schemes in 2013. That was on foot of the reports of the Ombudsman in 2011 and 2012 regarding the legal status of both schemes in the context of the Equal Status Acts. The Government also decided to continue payment of the monthly mobility allowa…

The work we all do in speaking to constituents and members of the public who suffer as a result of their situation or policies is vitally important. I accept that one can understand an issue better after speaking to a 34-year-old man with motor neurone disease who lives in Bandon than from just reading a report. I closely work with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I will convey the comments expressed by the Senator. I will also speak to the Minister for Finance, as my office is located on the same corrid…

I am answering questions on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, who is appearing before a committee. She sends her apologies. I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the issue of additional beds in Galway university hospitals, GUH, raised by Senator Kyne. While additional beds are an important part of the solution to emergency department overcrowding and waiting lists at GUH, it is also important to acknowledge that our response must not be solely based on the provision of extra beds but als…

The safety net arrangements are being used to utilise capacity within the private hospitals in Galway and a number of other beds are in train for next year. The health service capacity review was clear on the need for major investment in additional capacity in acute and community hospitals combined with a widescale reform of the manner and location of where health services were provided. The current winter plan builds on significant investment in last year's plan, which committed to delivering 1,146 additional beds…

I thank Senator Keogan for raising this important issue and for the opportunity to give an update on Government action to lower the average waiting times for applicants to the better energy warmer homes scheme. The programme for Government and the climate action plan have set ambitious targets to retrofit 500,000 homes to a building energy rating of B2, cost optimal or carbon equivalent and to install 400,000 heat pumps in existing buildings over the next ten years. These targets represent a very significant increa…

I will take the Senator's proposal with regard to reducing VAT rates to the Minister, Deputy Ryan. The Senator will know that there are two parts to the major retrofit scheme, the better energy warmer homes scheme, which is free, and a further scheme for people who are owner-occupiers and outside of that. To help people to afford it, there are two parts to that, one of which is a grants scheme. We are bringing in a cheap loans scheme as well to fund the other portion of the investment because we know that many peop…

I am answering on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I thank the Senator for raising this issue about DEIS schools. Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools is the main policy initiative of this Government to tackle educational disadvantage at school level. Budget 2022 has provided for an allocation of €18 million for 2022 and €32 million for 2023 to extend the DEIS programme to further schools with the highest levels of disadvantage. This represents an increase in funding for the DEIS program…

I thank the Senator. Her question is about timelines. She asked when the model is going to be ready and when additional schools are going to be added. I would need to ask the Minister, Deputy Foley, for her response to that and I can come back to the Senator through my office if she contacts my office directly. I have no problem with that. As she has seen, there has been a huge increase in funding for DEIS schools and many new programmes. That does create the situation where other schools wish to be included in DEI…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the climate action plan. We should take these opportunities to the maximum whenever we can. The recently published report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, as part of its sixth assessment, sets out the most up-to-date physical science basis for our understanding of climate change. The report confirms, among other things, that we have a limited window for real action to reduce emissions to ensure that current and future generations can live sustainably in a …

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following: “(a) Dáil Éireann resolves that the National Standards Authority of Ireland (Carbon Footprint Labelling) Bill 2021 be deemed to be read a second time this day twelve months, to allow for further consideration and analysis, including a Regulatory Impact Assessment, of how the Bill will achieve its objectives; and particularly in light of developments at European Union (EU) level on the proposal for a Sustainable Products Initiativ…

The interim procurement reform board was appointed by the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in May 2017 to provide oversight of the delivery of the procurement reform programme, advise the Government on national public procurement strategy and advise on the objectives and business plans of the Office of Government Procurement, OGP. The board meets quarterly and presents an annual report to me, as Minister of State with special responsibility for public procurement. The most recent report, for 2020, wa…

The Government has a huge capital investment programme and the OGP oversees roughly €16 billion in expenditure on goods and services. The idea of that is to centralise that spend to achieve three main objectives, namely, value for money, quality and transparency. Added to that, in looking at strategic procurements, we seek social conditions and green procurement. The Deputy asked where we find where matters have gone wrong, how we can build on that and so on. We require that contracting authorities report back on t…

Data collection is essential and I am glad the Deputy will, I believe, support the forthcoming planning and procurement Bill, which I hope will achieve cross-party support along with social conditions and green public procurement. As for her own Bill, I am happy to engage with her and see what she is trying to achieve. I am absolutely committed to open data and transparency, which will help us to achieve our goals in public procurement. She outlined occasions where public procurement has not succeeded in various co…

The interim procurement reform board was appointed by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in May 2017 to provide oversight to the delivery of the procurement reform programme, advise the Government on national public procurement strategy and advise on the objectives and business plans of the Office of Government Procurement, OGP. The board meets quarterly and presents an annual report to me, as the Minister of State with special responsibility for public procurement. The most recent report, for 2020, was…

One of the best ways in which procurement can be strengthened is through training. The Office of Government Procurement has a skills academy where it trains and teaches staff responsible for purchasing across government how to procure successfully. It is important that we have a good e-tenders platform. The platform is being replaced and a new tender has been placed to get a new software system for bidding for contracts. The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has an important role in making procurement s…

The e-tenders system has been in place for a long time and requires to be updated. We asked bidders and suppliers what they would like the tendering system to do differently and we have determined that we need a new tendering system. It will be the best we can get. We are being careful and this is not being tendered for on the existing e-tenders system so there is no advantage to the incumbent. On the NBP, the Deputy asked about encroachment. There is an intervention area where the national broadband plan applies. …