Pa Daly

The Minister is probably aware of the latest emissions figures as reported by the Environmental Protection Agency last week. It is a stark warning. Ireland seems to have gone backwards in its climate ambition because the latest greenhouse gas emissions projections form the EPA said emissions would fall by up to 23% if every climate policy currently planned is implemented on time, down from the pro…

The thrust of the question is why the slowdown and what measures exactly is the Minister taking to accelerate or redress the apparent slowdown, according to the statistics from the EPA. On the ramifications, we all know about the ecological collapse and energy independence. We know that there is a need for clean energy and to reduce the bills of consumers but the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and …

The Minister hinted at electric vehicles. The EPA report emphasised not only that the plan is not working but also its unfairness. It is not being done in an inclusive way. Many people are locked out of the Government's schemes. As the Minister mentioned, we need to have hundreds of thousands more EVs to keep within the carbon budget but the grant scheme that the Government has does very little to…

103. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he is aware of recent concerns expressed by officials in his Department that policy choices would need to be made between data centre expansion for AI and housing delivery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30272/25]

Regarding officials in his Department expressing concerns that policy choices will have to be made between data centre expansion for AI and housing delivery and the priorities relating to same, will the Minister make a statement?

Anybody who was in the House for any period earlier today will realise the priority and urgency afforded to the housing crisis. There are 15,580 people homeless. Then there is the rest, which Minister would have heard about, such as the average cost of rent being above €2,000. There is a housing emergency but instead of prioritising homes, this Government and those that preceded it have been reckl…

Does the Minister have a view on what the CRU said about mandating data centres to have a supply of electricity for themselves? Access to public infrastructure and our natural resources has been prioritised for data centres. However, the energy regulator in the Netherlands has the power to prioritise projects that identify social goals which can be prioritised for connection to the energy grid. Th…

114. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the progress in meeting the 2030 retrofitting and heat pump targets; the measures his Department taking to accelerate this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30274/25]

I ask the Minister to outline the progress made towards meeting the 2030 retrofitting and heat pump targets. Similarly to the EU targets, these measures seem to be out of reach for many people who are of limited means. What measures are his Department taking to accelerate this?

7. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Finance if he has considered tax policy measures to reduce the cost of electricity relative to fossil fuels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28216/25]

As the Minister knows, households are paying a staggering €350, or 30%, more than the European average on their energy bills. During the election last November, the Government claimed it was going to cut energy costs to bring relief to households in a cost-of-living crisis. Instead, it is going to rip away supports. The Minister himself said that energy payments could not become the norm. Does he…

During the winter in particular, I am contacted in the constituency office by people who feel that the situation is out of control. These are people who are paying their children's allowance against their rent and are forced to chose between heating, eating and paying their mortgage. The transition to renewables, which the Government is pushing, should not mean people are paying extortionate energ…

Of course we should be pushing towards renewable energy but it is the way that the PSO levy is disproportionately put on low- and middle-income earners that is the problem. It is unfair and unlikely to accelerate decarbonisation in the households we go to where they have solid fuel at the front of their houses and are reliant on it. Regarding electricity, the additional costs on household bills s…

Can they afford to change to renewables?

We believe there should not be any more carbon taxes on the people. The Minister is naive if he thinks those people-----

They cannot afford to push to renewable energy.

Does the Minister think the larger users are paying their fair share?

I do not have any difficulty with most of the technical amendments, but I will make a few points about the wider issue. This is the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024 and it has the word "support" in its title, but it includes little in the way of practical support for former residents in its contents. It is more virtue signalling and promising something while del…

I want to make another point regarding supports available to survivors who are not living in this jurisdiction. I recently visited the Coventry Irish centre, which provides all the supports for survivors in the English west midlands. Unfortunately, the Government only commits to funding schemes. The centre has difficulty in that it funded its own premises, which is on Eton Square near the railway …

The boat operators who bring visitors to land at Sceilg Mhichíl usually have a short season of about 100 days once the season opens, which this year happened on 10 May. These local people from Portmagee, Valencia and Baile an Sceilg have now lost 10% of these days in the best May weather in years. This is affecting their livelihoods and those of local businesses and is disappointing tourists from …

This is not a time for equivocation. It is not a time for saying "on the one hand and on the other hand". We have had 19 months of genocide, land grab, breaches of human rights and breaches of other international laws in Gaza. We have had two months of a blockade of basic human life-sustaining and life-giving aid for children. Last night, we were warned that unless this aid reaches people, 14,000 …

We face a biodiversity crisis. The green of our landscape masks the loss of so many key elements of our natural environment. Our life support system is on the brink of collapse and the picture is stark. Over the past 40 or 50 years every single indicator has been on a downward trend. Natural habitats are being degraded or homogenised, forest cover is being eroded and species are becoming extinct. …

Any parent will say that if they discover or suspect their child has developmental difficulties, the first thing they will want to do is find out what the problem is. Second, they will want fix it. Here again, we have another crisis, which is on a long list of crises under the current Government. As Members will have heard earlier, the number of children languishing on a waiting list is now more …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The Title to the Bill states that it is: "An Act to provide that information relating to the repairability of certain products be made available and to provide for related matters." Ba mhaith liom ar dtús mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le hOifig na gComhairleoirí Dlí Parlaiminte as an obair a rinne siad ag ullmhú an Bhille seo, go mór mór d'Orla Ryan, A…

I thank the Minister of State for his comments. I thank Deputies Ahern and Donnelly for their support in this matter. I have listened to what the Minister of State said. I note what he said about the Private Members' Bill creating unnecessary duplication of effort and potential discrepancies. He said these matters were best progressed at the EU level. I disagree with him. I do not think that what …