In the Citizens' Assembly on climate, it came up that there should be a microgeneration scheme and there should be a tariff. It was said that people should get money back if they generate excess renewable energy in their homes. They should be paid by the electricity company. It was said this was the case in other countries so why not in this country? I wish this had gone live earlier. We are waiting for the CRU to approve a scheme later this month and, after that approval is obtained, we will put in place a compens…

At the moment, there are planning exemptions that limit how many solar panels can be put on without having to apply for planning permission. We are working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to change those exemptions so they are taken away and you can put as much solar on your roof as you want. Will it be available to farms and schools? Absolutely. It is critical that people generate their own power because then they have a sense of ownership and of taking part in the green transition so…

I thank the Deputy. The North-South interconnector is critical to improving the efficient operation of the all-island single electricity market and increasing security of electricity supply in Ireland and Northern Ireland. It will also help Ireland to move towards our target of up to 80% renewable electricity by 2030. A resilient and well-connected energy infrastructure is vital for Ireland's economic well-being and the ability to respond to the future needs of energy consumers. The option of undergrounding the Nor…

In short, the benefit of the project is that at different times of the year, depending on the weather, there will be a surplus of energy in the North and a deficit in the South, or vice versa . By being able to move the electricity and balance the supply around the island, we can ensure better reliability and security of supply and also reduce prices on both sides so that we are not dumping load or shedding load in one part or the other. The review will be finished by the end of the year. In response to how that fi…

Community engagement is essential to any major infrastructural project. It is essential out of a sense of fairness but also to make sure that it is accepted, that it proceeds and that the right answers are found for it. This project could not be described as one that was rushed: it has been running for 15 years. I do not think we can have it two ways: we cannot say that we need to make sure we do this right, listen to the public and have engagement and then say that we should not have this final review to make sure…

As I have said, there are very different circumstances to the roll-out of the NBI fibre and the work being done by other organisations, such as the work Eir is doing to its own existing network. NBI is a new company coming into the market. It is trying to connect people who have previously not been connected. It has a lot of new works to be done and it does not have an existing relationship with suppliers that other people have. That does not mean that its excuses for delays are reasonable and it does not mean that…

The influence on climate action is partly because people can work from home and would not have to travel so far. Additionally, the network essentially works on light and takes less power to operate. There are many benefits.

He is right and we should have better data. The Deputy asked about the baseline definition of high-speed broadband and there is a target being developed in the EU currently for gigabit broadband by 2030. I do not know if the Deputy is familiar with that. There probably should be an intermediate target but it is what people are heading towards.

Every country has some version of a national broadband plan. I have not met any communications minister from any country with a more ambitious plan than ours. Most of them are going for some form of wireless as their final delivery. Wireless technology is good but it is just not upgradable to the levels we are trying to achieve, as we are eventually looking at 25 Gbps.

I will.

The programme for Government recognises the need for research and development of hydrogen from renewable sources, known as green hydrogen, for use in power generation and as a zero-emission energy source in difficult to decarbonise sectors such as transport and industry. In July 2020, the European Commission published a hydrogen strategy for a carbon-neutral Europe. Ireland supported the hydrogen strategy, including the need to deploy green hydrogen in line with the programme for Government. Ireland also supported …

This was discussed informally at the Council of Ministers last week. Some countries have different views and some are going for blue hydrogen rather than green hydrogen. Ireland is going for green hydrogen. In Ireland we brought in three buses that run on hydrogen in order to get experience of what it is like to use them. This is not a mature technology but I do not want it always to be a future technology. We can achieve that by trying things out. I know in west Dublin there is a trial to inject hydrogen into the …

With the development of hydrogen, it is not clear exactly which scenario will be best. Will it be ideal for long-distance trucking or suitable for storage so it can help to balance electricity grids when the wind is low? Will it be appropriate for the heating of homes and directly replacing gas in those homes? There are different use cases which have to be tried out and which have to be economically sound. Hydrogen will be appropriate in some circumstances and inappropriate in others. It has challenges and it is a …

I am the Minister of State responsible for broadband and that does not just involve the NBP. I am also responsible for ensuring the whole country has broadband and there are blackspots within urban areas as well. There are over 624,000 premises in County Dublin, of which 15,000 are within the NBP intervention area. Those premises will receive access to high speed broadband under the NBP. Government investment in County Dublin in the NBP will be approximately €48 million. I am advised by NBI that, as of 27 October, …

If the Deputy has constituents who are unable to access decent broadband they can apply to be in the intervention area through my Department if the Deputy emails broadband@dec.gov.ie. They will be surveyed and assessed and if broadband is unavailable to them from any other supplier up to 30 MB then they can be included in NBI's roll-out. SIRO is developing in the border area between the city and the rural area of the Dublin mountains. SIRO is half-owned by the Irish State and it announced last week that it will del…

North County Dublin has much larger areas and is a lot more rural than south County Dublin. That is why more areas in north County Dublin were listed. I will contact NBI if the Deputy has specific areas in the Dublin mountains that he thinks need to be surveyed and I will ask it to look at that. On blackspots in urban areas, I have spoken to NBI about this and in some cases a commercial supplier next door needs to extend its fibre into that neighbouring premises. Sometimes the best way to solve that blackspot is fo…

Greenhouse gas emissions and removals associated with LULUCF are reported in Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions inventory, prepared by the Environmental Protections Agency, EPA, and submitted annually to the EU and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. LULUCF includes activities associated with forestry, croplands, grasslands, wetlands, settlements and other lands. The programme for Government recognises that the next ten years are critical if we are to address the climate crisis. It commits to…

I accept that it is a shift and we need new tools and metrics and ways of managing it. It is something new, but it is not all negative. The fact is that at present LULUCF is generating emissions in the wrong direction - it is 4.8 MTCO2e - but it is also true that it could be a sink. That is not the case with other sectors of the economy. This is a sector of society which can make progress on emissions beyond zero. In other words, it can sequester carbon. At the same time, we can pay farmers to do that. Therefore, i…

Absolutely. In the commentary and debate about what needs to be done for climate action, too often the position of agriculture and farming is taken as definitely to be a negative. It is discussed in terms of pain, suffering and job losses when actually it is a time of opportunity. It is a traditional sector with a long heritage. It is difficult to have deep changes in such a sector, or lifestyle and culture. Nobody in Ireland who wants to deprive farmers of income. Everybody in Ireland is proud of their farming sec…

I thank Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan. I am not complaining about answering questions; it is my job. I have been asked about Cork North-Central in the past and the more the Deputy asks those questions, the more things are likely to happen in a faster way in that area. The Deputy is right to do it. I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 15 together. There are over 276,000 premises in County Cork, of which over 80,000 are within the national broadband plan intervention area. Government will invest in the order of €314 m…