Roderic O'Gorman

Will the Tánaiste give us an account of his Department's assessment of the shortfall in revenue from the deferral of the carbon tax increase?

On the evening we voted on the financial resolutions, I noted that the Tánaiste's decision to defer that increase shattered that coalition that had existed in this House across Government and some parts of the Opposition where difficult votes to support the carbon tax had been taken. I genuinely have to ask why. As the Tánaiste pointed out, the value forgone is actually very small in terms of the …

The Tánaiste has spoken about common sense and it not making sense now to allow these increases to take place but he has to recognise the precedent that he set he it suspended the carbon tax increase because of the blockades in our streets. The Tánaiste has to understand that the people who have seen him bend and break now will anticipate that he will do it again and will look to put that same lev…

I thank colleagues in Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion. In my constituency, Dublin West, we have seen sustained challenges over many years in respect of parents being able to secure appropriate places for their children in local schools. I know the Minister and Minister of State are aware of that. Right now, there remain children who I know do not have an appropriate place assigned to the…

11. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to outline the rationale for section 7 of the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27626/26]

I want to ask the Minister, Deputy Chambers, about his intentions through the Critical Infrastructure Bill, particularly section 7, in terms of the removal of the climate duty, a duty on all public bodies to assess the climate impact of infrastructure projects they are advancing.

Mario Draghi may have rightfully highlighted real challenges in our planning system but I do not think he placed the blame on the climate action Act or section 15. As I said in the Chamber on Tuesday, we are talking in a context where the previous Government signed up to legally binding international and European targets but the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, announced over Christmas that we would not …

The Minister continually puts the blame for judicial reviews on environmentalists and on people who are concerned about climate action but let me cite three actual judicial review cases. Not the hypothetical ones that the Minister continues to cite, but actual cases that took place on three major public transport projects. There was the judicial review on DART+ West in our constituency that was ta…

94. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment to provide an update on the planned publication date for the 2026 climate action plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27598/26]

151. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the reason for the delay in the publication of the 2026 climate action plan, which was initially due to be published in December 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27599/26]

Today is 16 April and we are almost a third of the way through the year. When will the Department publish the climate action plan for 2026?

I specified the date today because last year the climate action plan for 2025 was published on 15 April. At least last year there was there was some excuse for delay - there was a general election followed by the formation of a new Government, and the Minister needed to get a sense of his new Department. This year, those excuses do not exist and it starts to look like a lack of interest, a lack of…

I will not get into a back-and-forth over what was said at Christmas because I do not think it is useful at this stage. However, given how far off track we are at this current time, the climate action plan for this year, which sets out the priorities for the next five years within the carbon budget, is absolutely crucial. The Minister spoke about priorities. He will need to take some really big ex…

98. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if consideration is being given by his Department to permitting the use of plug-in solar panels for residential properties in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27602/26]

Over the last number of months, I have been asking the Minister about the issue of plug-in solar to ensure that more households in Ireland can benefit from cheap solar power. Will the Minister give me a timeline on when we will have a clear decision from him and the Department as to whether plug-in solar can be used in this country?

The issue here is a question of speed. One million households in Germany use plug-in solar right now. There has been an 18-month consultation on this issue here. I agree that safety issues have to be addressed but the Minister has suggested that there may be a need for some form of regulation. We need some speed on this. Look at what the UK Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, did. He brought in the m…

To begin, I express my deep appreciation to Deputy Ó Snodaigh for bringing this Bill forward and continuing to put his experience and passion behind this particular issue. I also thank those Deputies who are cosignatories of the Bill as well as the Deputies who have spoken and joined this debate tonight. I appreciate the openness of both the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, and the Minister of State,…

The reason we are experiencing an energy price crisis in our country is because of Ireland's over-reliance on fossil fuels. Until the Government takes decisions that will break that over-reliance, our economy and our people will continue to be vulnerable. The war in Iran has shown for the second time in four years how our economy is at the mercy of the whims of Putin, of Trump and the Ayatollah. Y…

The Green Party has no confidence in the Government, and I will vote against the motion. Over the course of the past week, the actions of the Government continually made a difficult situation worse. Ministers caused confusion, unnecessarily raised tensions and ultimately failed to protect the Irish people's ability to move and go about their business for five long days. Hospital appointments were …

In the six years I have been a TD and for much of the decade before that, there was a coalition in this House - a coalition that existed across Government and Opposition that supported the carbon tax. There was a coalition that recognised the arguments that a dedicated, predictable and increasing fund of money was necessary to fund the changes needed to transition our economy away from fossil fuel…

Section 7 of this Bill represents a fundamental attack on the provisions of the climate action Act passed in this House in 2021 with the support of 129 Members from the Green Party, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin and, crucially, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Now, five years later, this Critical Infrastructure Bill means that any project that is designated as c…

I joined my Green Party colleague Niall Murphy in Galway last weekend, and buses were a central concern of the people we met. The NTA has announced that it expects 60 double-decker, electric buses to be used in Galway by the end of 2027, which is about a year away now. That represents an increase of capacity on individual buses. The important question is: are these going to be new buses, or are th…

I welcome the renewal of the ARP this evening and I will vote in favour of it. It will offer clarity to the 42,000 Ukrainians in ARP-supported homes but also to the thousands of Irish families who are actively supporting them. It is very important that the Minister provide clarity on what was being briefed in the papers in terms of the move from a payment of €600 to €400. It is important that the…

Yesterday the UK Government announced it would make plug-in solar panels available in the near future to British households. Plug-ins are low-cost solar panels that families can put on balconies or outdoor spaces. Retailers and manufacturers are working with the UK Government to make them available in shops within months. They would save people money on their bills in the UK and they could do the …

15. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to clarify how resourcing of community safety partnerships is targeted, based on the varying needs of local areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20879/26]