Written Answers Nos. 145-164
145. Deputy Joe McHugh asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he is aware of dramatic increases in electricity in air-to-water/geothermal households; if he will consider further supports in future; if there are measures being put in place to ease these price increases in light of more offshore renewables under construction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32619/23]
View answerIn 2022, the Government introduced a new package of supports to make it easier and more affordable for homeowners to undertake home energy upgrades to reduce their energy use, including grants for the installation of heat pumps to replace fossil fuel heating systems. The heat pump grant was significantly increased with grant support for an air to water or geothermal heat pump increasing from €3,500 to up to €6,500. For homeowners undertaking a deep retrofit with a heat pump under the National Home Energy Upgrade Scheme (NHEUS) or the Community Energy Grant (CEG) Scheme, additional grant support is available towards required heating system upgrades, as well as a bonus payment of €2,000 to eligible homeowners. This equates to a potential grant support of up to €10,500 available to homeowners upgrading to a heat pump as part of a deep retrofit project.
Heat pumps, when installed in homes with sufficient insulation, are extremely efficient and very economical to run offering lower energy costs to homeowners as well as reduced carbon emissions. There is also no requirement for additional heating sources in homes heated using heat pumps, meaning households do not have additional bills for oil, gas or solid fuel. Full details on the range of SEAI supports available can be found at www.seai.ie.
Expanding offshore wind generation is one of a series of necessary measures to ensure we eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Future deployment of solar PV, system flexibility, storage technologies including batteries and green hydrogen as well as regional and international interconnection will also be crucial to enable high levels of renewable electricity on the grid, reduce emissions, and ultimately secure lower energy costs for consumers.
Government is committed to helping people meet high energy costs, with a particular focus on those most vulnerable. Most recently, a €470 million package was announced in February which introduced measures assisting social protection recipients between April and July, and extended the reduced VAT rate on electricity and gas bills until the end of October 2023. This followed the €2.5 billion of once-off supports announced in Budget 2023, including various targeted social protection payments and an Electricity Cost Emergency Benefit Scheme which credited €600 (inclusive of VAT) to each domestic electricity account in three payments of €200.
Government is closely monitoring the impact of these supports and long-term measures to increase home energy efficiency through the implementation of the Energy Poverty Action Plan. Further measures are being considered in the context of Budget 2024.
146. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the actions being taken by Inland Fisheries Ireland and the EPA in relation to an ongoing fuel leak into the Slaney river below the waterworks at Tullow; whether the impact of this oil leak on the SAC, in particular the pearl mussel and salmon populations, has been ascertained; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32037/23]
View answerThe reported fuel leak into the River Slaney is being addressed primarily by Carlow County Council. However, staff from Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) have visited the location on several occasions and noted large numbers of live fish (both trout and salmon) in the section of river downstream of the oil discharge. Extensive checks by IFI staff have also highlighted good populations of fish in the impacted section. IFI visited the location on Friday 23 June 2023 and confirmed that the discharge was significantly reduced compared to previous checks. On 29 June IFI reported that there was no evidence of any oil during a check on a section of Slaney channel less that 1km downstream from the discharge point.
The conservation of freshwater pearl mussel is a matter for the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Neither I, my Department nor IFI have any function in this matter.
The EPA is an independent public body established under the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992 and is entirely independent in the exercise of its functions. Accordingly, any queries on specific incidents that fall within the remit of the EPA should be directed to the Agency.
147. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will outline the interdepartmental engagement process on the distribution of revenues raised from the windfall gains in the energy sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32085/23]
View answerThe windfall gains in the energy sector will be collected through a temporary solidarity contribution on fossil fuel and refining activities and a cap on market revenues of specific technologies in the electricity sector. The temporary solidarity contribution will be collected by the Revenue Commissioners and the proceeds remitted to the Exchequer. The cap on market revenues will be collected by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU).
Council Regulation 2022/1854 requires the proceeds to be distributed in accordance with Article 17 for temporary solidarity contribution and Article 10 for cap on market revenues. There will be a Government decision on the specific distribution of proceeds from both the temporary solidarity contribution and cap on market revenues. In advance of the Government decision, the Cross-Departmental and inter-agency Energy Poverty Steering Group, chaired by my Department will be consulted on the distribution of these proceeds. The members of the Energy Poverty Steering Group are:
• Department of the Environment, Climate & Communications
• Department of Social Protection
• Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage
• Department of Health
• Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI)
• Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU)
• Health Service Executive
• Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
• Department of Finance
• Department of Rural and Community Development
148. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of people connected to the microgen pilot scheme from 2009 to 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32117/23]
View answer149. Deputy Michael McNamara asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications when the initial 907 pilot scheme generators will receive their payments under the Government-backed microgeneration scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32118/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 148 and 149 together.
The breakdown for microgeneration connections which took place under the 2009 Microgen pilot scheme, which ran until 2014, is outlined in the table below:
|
Year |
Microgen connections |
|
2009 |
454 |
|
2010 |
255 |
|
2011 |
197 |
|
2012 |
118 |
|
2013 |
146 |
|
2014 |
287 |
I understand that during the lifetime of this Microgeneration pilot scheme, ESB Networks (ESBN) collected export data for 907 Meter Point Registration Numbers (MPRNs). During the pilot, data from import/export meters from those MPRNs were provided to suppliers. However, to facilitate and support the new Clean Export Guarantee (CEG) tariff scheme developed by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in line with the requirements of the recast Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) and the Renewable Energy Regulations 2022 (SI 76 of 2022), ESBN worked with industry stakeholders via the Microgeneration Working Group to develop a new Interim Retail Market Microgeneration (IRMM) solution, in order to facilitate the remuneration of renewables self-consumers for their excess exported electricity . As part of this, the legacy microgeneration pilot scheme was transitioned to be consistent with the IRMM solution and a decision made by CRU that metered export data from the 2009 pilot scheme import/export meters, could no longer be provided to suppliers for the purposes of the CEG. Details on those participants of the initial scheme who are now being paid based on either deemed export or validated smart meter export data, are a matter for each individual and their electricity supplier; and are not publicly available.
150. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of times he has met with or corresponded with the Director General of RTÉ since he took office; and the dates upon which such meetings or correspondences took place. [32165/23]
View answerIn my role as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, I met with the RTÉ's Former Director General on 9 May 2022. I met with the incoming Director General on 12 May this year.
My office has received three pieces of generic correspondence from the RTÉ Director General's email account - on 7 October 2020; 22 October 2020 and 5 March 2021.
151. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of times he has met with or corresponded with members of the board of RTÉ since he took office; and the dates upon which such meetings or correspondences took place. [32169/23]
View answerIn my role as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, I met with the RTÉ's Former Director General on 9 May 2022. I met with the incoming Director General on 12 May this year.
My office has received three pieces of generic correspondence from the RTÉ Director General's email account - on 7 October 2020; 22 October 2020 and 5 March 2021.
152. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the amount of public funding, in money terms, the Government has provided to RTÉ in each of the past ten years and to date in 2023, in tabular form. [32172/23]
View answerTV licence receipts were transferred to RTÉ through my Department’s Vote until the responsibility for RTÉ transferred to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in 2020.
A sum of just over €330,000 was reimbursed to RTÉ over the four year period 2014 - 2017 to cover the cost of secondment of an RTÉ staff member to the Department. The purpose of this secondment was to support the redevelopment of the Department's website and development of its communications/customer service functions.
My Department does not provide direct funding to RTÉ in relation to advertising, and any advertising with RTÉ is procured via a media buying agency, as part of a package that would generally include advertising across a range of channels and platforms based on target audience, desired reach, and campaign objectives.
153. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of times his predecessors (details supplied) met with or corresponded with the Director General of RTÉ while they were in office; and the dates upon which such meetings or correspondences took place. [32177/23]
View answerMinisterial responsibility for RTÉ is held by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media since September 2020. Prior to the transfer of Ministerial responsibility for RTÉ, my predecessors met with the Director General of RTÉ on 10 occasions on the dates set out below.
• 21 June 2016
• 6 September 2016
• 21 February 2017
• 2 November 2017
• 27 February 2018
• 30 January 2019
• 29 July 2019
• 27 September 2019
• 7 October 2019
• 8 April 2020
Details of correspondence between the then Ministers and the Director General of RTÉ is no longer held in my Department.
154. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to clarify the nature and extent of his and his Department's statutory role with respect to the oversight and funding of Bord na Móna; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32189/23]
View answerBord na Móna is an independent, commercial semi-state company.
They are subject to the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies. In line with the Code, a Shareholder Letter of Expectation has been issued to the company. This provides guidance to Bord na Móna and its Board of Directors with respect to the Government’s current objectives for Bord na Móna and the primary considerations which may be taken account of by both the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and I (and other Government Ministers, where relevant) in respect of matters for which our consent is required. Matters which might come to me as Minister for consent include those arising in accordance with the Turf Development Acts 1946 – 1998, the constitutions of Bord na Móna and its subsidiaries and the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies.
155. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will confirm that, in light of the recent EPA emissions projections and the subsequent confirmation by his Department that any overrun of total greenhouse gas emissions in excess of the 2021-25 carbon budget will be subtracted from the 2026-2030 carbon budget, the 2024 Climate Action Plan will introduce additional urgent emission reduction measures and corresponding downward adjustments of sectoral emission ceilings to satisfy the legal obligations to ensure compliance with the carbon budgets as required under the Climate and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32265/23]
View answer156. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will confirm that the projected carbon emissions data provided by the EPA for the cumulative carbon budget period 2021-2030 may, if realised, entirely eliminate the 2031–2035 carbon budget provisionally proposed by the Climate Change Advisory Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32266/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 155 and 156 together.
The latest greenhouse gas emissions projections from the EPA highlight the challenge Ireland faces in meeting its climate objectives and legally-binding emissions reduction targets. While the EPA’s projections show that emissions are expected to decrease in almost all sectors, it is clear that Ireland faces a significant challenge in meeting our climate targets. We need to fully implement the policies and measures in Climate Action Plan 2023, and bring forward further policies and measures to bridge the gap to target.
It should also be noted that some potentially impactful policies and measures are not accounted for in the EPA’s projections as sufficient detail is not yet available, particularly in key sectors such as electricity, industry and agriculture. The EPA has projected that Ireland is on course to reduce emissions by 29% by 2030 (under its ‘With Additional Measures’ scenario). If unmodelled policies and measures, and unallocated savings, are included, then the EPA’s projected emissions reduction would be 42%, significantly closer to our legally-binding target of 51% reduction by 2030.
My Department has commenced the inter-Departmental process to prepare and deliver the next annual update to the Climate Action Plan. The work will reflect the challenges highlighted by the EPA’s report, and the policies and measures identified for inclusion in Climate Action Plan 2024 will need to demonstrate how to deliver against the sectoral emissions ceilings, carbon budgets and our 2030 target of a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emission
157. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide a schedule of the grants, grant-aid, low-cost borrowing and funding that his Department can provide to an association (details supplied), heading under which the grants, grant-aid, low cost borrowing and funding is provided; the maximum amount that can be accessed ; and the dates on which the schemes operate. [32276/23]
View answerThe Department operates a large range of funding schemes, each with their own terms and conditions. The information provided in the question is not specific enough to determine the eligibility of the organisation referred to for funding from these schemes.
Further information on the various schemes operated by my Department are available on our website at gov.ie - Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (www.gov.ie). Information on energy grants, operated by Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland on behalf of my Department, is available at www.SEAI.ie
158. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if an Eircode will be issued to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32336/23]
View answerCapita Business Support Services Ireland, trading as Eircode, assigns Eircodes to new property addresses using a valid postal address and verified geo-locations. An Post collects information on all new and existing buildings, as well as changes to existing addresses and Tailte Éireann (formerly Ordnance Survey Ireland) provides the geo-locations for these buildings. An Post GeoDirectory (APG), a subsidiary company of An Post and Tailte Éireann, issue a new release of database files monthly to Capita in accordance with their revised licence agreement.
Capita have advised my officials that they have been in direct contact with the individual in question and will continue to monitor the case, reverting to them with updates as soon as further information is available.
An Post and Tailte Éireann have confirmed to my officials that the property in question has been assigned a verified postal address and geo-location and this information has been added to the An Post database. The updated information will be included in the next update of the database being supplied to Capita from APG.
Due to the growth and success of Eircodes the free to use online Eircode Finder (finder.eircode.ie/#/) receives over two million average monthly lookups and provides both the geographical and postal addresses for properties in the state. There are 2236 business organisations and State Agencies who are licencing Eircodes within their business systems and operations across a wide spectrum of sectors.
In recognition of the fact that earlier assignment of Eircodes for new builds is desirable, Capita have now reduced the timeframe to assign Eircodes from quarterly to a monthly basis. All new Eircodes will be published on the free to use Eircode Finder website, a notification letter will be issued to the property occupant containing the new Eircode and an updated Eircode Database files will be provided to licenced businesses for their use. To date over seven thousand Eircodes have been assigned through the monthly process.
159. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications for an update and a timeline/date for the roll-out of Broadband in an area of County Sligo (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32371/23]
View answerThe Question refers to a premises located in the AMBER area on the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map which is available on my Department's website www.broadband.gov.ie The AMBER area represents the area to be served by the network to be deployed under the NBP State led intervention.
I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, as of 23rd June 2023, over 148,100 premises are passed and available for order and immediate connection. Over 44,700 connections have already been made to the NBP high-speed broadband network. To date, the level of connections is increasing on a daily basis and is in line with projections, with some areas exceeding expectations.
NBI has advised that as of 23rd June, 2,900 premises in County Sligo are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection with 1,134 premises connected.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Sligo can be monitored via nbi.ie/reps. A county update can be selected to provide the overall number of premises in the Intervention Area, the overall NBP investment in the county, the number of premises passed and connected to date and the status of each of the Deployment Areas with the anticipated date for connection over the lifetime of the project. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.
The network rollout for the NBP is divided into 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) across the country. These are typically an area of approximately 25km in radius and in total they cover 96% of Ireland’s landmass. The network is specifically designed based on the NBI network coming from the eir exchanges or the metropolitan area networks (MANs) which allows NBI to reach every premises as quickly as possible. Villages, townlands and counties are covered by a number of DAs which means there are differing timescales for the rollout across county areas.
National Broadband Ireland (NBI) has faced a range of challenges due to the sheer scale and complexity of rolling out fibre to the home in a rural environment. These include significant tree trimming works to ensure cable can be placed on overhead poles, remediation of ducting that has been in place for many decades, the co-ordination of hundreds of contracting crews and addressing the many issues arising week on week which could not have been foreseen until the build crews commenced work on the ground. And while NBI were able to bring forward the completion dates for a number of deployments around the country, there were other instances, such as in the case of your constituent’s area, where there was no other option but reschedule the build dates for those areas.
Given the scale and complexity of delivery of the new gigabit broadband network under the NBP, any dates provided by NBI on its website are based on the best available information at the time and may be subject to change. And whilst any disappointment that date changes may cause is entirely understandable, NBI’s deployment strategy is based on delivering the best engineered solution possible. Deploying infrastructure of this scale is complex and from an engineering standpoint, the fibre route lengths and housing density must be factored in to ensure that a future proofed optical budget (bandwidth) is available to every premises in the Intervention Area.
This means that your constituent’s premises will receive the highest quality of service on the NBI network and that the service will be able to scale to meet future demands over the lifetime of the network.
If your constituent requires further details about the changes in connection date for their premises, NBI will be happy to provide this. They can contact the call centre at 0818 624 624 or email contactus@nbi.ie with any queries they may have in relation to the delays or the rollout in general.
160. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to outline the next steps in the process for awarding the 2% increase in the An Post pension for a person (details supplied), agreed on 1 January 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32478/23]
View answerOn 9 March 2023 An Post wrote to my Department seeking consent to the second phase of their current pay agreement which provides for a 2% increase in pay from 1st January 2023. In addition to this, on foot of a recent Labour Court decision, An Post also wrote to my Department on 9 March seeking approval to make increases to pensions in payment and deferred pensions of a 5% increase from 1 January 2022 and a 1% increase from 1 July 2023.
In accordance with the relevant Code of Practice from the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, An Post must seek Ministerial approval to increase pensions and deferred pensions for members of the An Post superannuation scheme. As per Circular 16/2021, all such proposals require NewERA’s views, as well as a business case setting out the strategic, policy and financial rationale for the proposed increase. Circular 16/2021 states that pension approval requests should be submitted for approval well in advance of any decision to implement changes in acknowledgement of the necessary processes that must be completed and in order to ensure that pension increases are not unduly delayed. It should be recognised that the time taken for the pension approval process is necessary to ensure that robust governance procedures are in place.
Following receipt of the requests and associated documentation in recent weeks and months from An Post, the standard process is now being followed, with NewERA’s views and assessment by officials being required prior to the consent of both Ministers being sought.
Consideration of the consent requests is well advanced and a report from NewERA was submitted on 29 June. The two Shareholding Departments will now expedite consideration of the matter. It is not possible, at this point, to set out the specific timeframe within which the decision-making process will be concluded.
161. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will outline what consideration has been given to calculating carbon credits for the agricultural sector, in view of the fact that it was previously noted that afforestation and anaerobic digestion are two specific areas that are not related to agricultural emissions in terms of credits and considering that comparing carbon sequestration with carbon emissions is needed to provide a clear picture of progress in meeting climate-related targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32610/23]
View answerIreland is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under which the State is required to estimate and report its emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHG) from its sources or sinks on an annual basis. The National Inventory Report (NIR) includes emissions and removals from Agriculture and the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sectors. The UNFCCC reporting forms the basis of the attribution of emissions and removals in the Climate Action Plan.
Climate Action Plan 2023 has outlined how emission reductions in the agriculture sector will be achieved in the coming years. The Plan increases our ambition for efficiency in the sector while also promoting diversification of agricultural activities which will offer farmers more ways to generate an income. These actions will encourage farmers to diversify into more sustainable sectors, including organics, tillage, agro-forestry and biomethane production.
While recognising that the reduction of sectoral emissions may accrue to other sectors for some actions, there will be a return flow of diversified income into the agricultural sector. These new income streams will displace more traditional GHG intensive income streams, thereby reducing emissions in the agricultural sector while maintaining or increasing over all farm incomes.
In addition, the current EU Commission’s proposal for a Union certification framework for carbon removals is making its way through the EU Council. The proposal will create a carbon certification scheme, creating carbon removal credits for sale on the voluntary ‘off-set’ market. Such a system will allow for a wide variety of business models to reward carbon removals by farmers, land managers, foresters, and other stakeholders for which many of the diversification actions in the Climate Action Plan should be eligible. The scheme is voluntary, and it is anticipated that it will be operational in stages from 2025, and fully operational post 2030.
162. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the whole-time equivalent staff, by job title, working in the geological survey division of his Department as of 28 June 2023, in tabular form. [32685/23]
View answerMy Department has 42 whole-time equivalent staff working in the Geological Survey Ireland which is a division of my Department as of 28 June 2023.
The breakdown, by job title, in tabular form is:
|
Job Title |
No of Staff: |
|
Director of G.S.I |
1 |
|
Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
Senior Geologist |
11 |
|
Geologist |
9 |
|
Clerical Officer |
5 |
|
Driller |
3 |
|
Principal Geologist |
3 |
|
Executive Officer |
2 |
|
Higher Executive Officer |
2 |
|
Cartographer GSI |
1 |
|
Chief Superintendent |
1 |
|
GIS Manager |
1 |
|
GIS Officer |
1 |
|
Executive Engineer |
1 |
|
Total |
42 |
163. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if there is a stream of funding under the Just Transition Fund that a company establishing operations in Littleton, Thurles, County Tipperary, could apply for to renovate a warehouse into a fit-for-purpose workshop in order to create local employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32714/23]
View answerThe Programme for the EU Just Transition Fund was approved by Government and adopted by the European Commission in December 2022.
The Programme aims to address the long-term economic transition of a designated territory in the Midlands, which includes Littleton, County Tipperary, following the end of commercial peat extraction and peat-fired power generation. The Fund incorporates €84.5 million of funding from the EU Just Transition Fund for the period 2021 to 2027. When national co-financing is included, this new Programme will provide for investments of up to €169 million.
The programme, which will be managed by the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, will be delivered in cooperation with a number of different Departments and Agencies, focussed on three priorities:
Priority 1: Generating employment for former peat communities by investing in the diversification of the local economy by supporting productive investments in enterprise, SMEs and community actions, focusing on sectors and activities which can address the economic challenge of the transition. This priority includes support for the development of tourism enterprises, bioeconomy initiatives, and for the implementation of Local Economic and Community Plans and Regional Enterprise Plans .
Priority 2: The restoration and rehabilitation of degraded peatlands and the regeneration and repurposing of industrial heritage assets to enable the transition towards climate-neutrality while also facilitating the diversification and modernisation of the economy of the Territory. This priority includes support for wetlands restoration, tourism trail network developments, and work on farm peat soils.
Priority 3: Providing former peat communities with smart and sustainable mobility options to enable them to benefit directly from the green transition by supporting clean, green mobility to build regional attractiveness and support economic development. This priority includes support for the electrification of rural link services, electrification of commercial bus services, and the installation of EV charging infrastructure.
It is planned to launch calls for proposals for individual schemes during the course of this year. Allocation of funding through each scheme under the programme will take place in accordance with the scope and terms of individual schemes. When available, information on how to apply for funding under each scheme, including which organisations are eligible to apply, will be published by the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly on emra.ie/eu-jtf/ and by relevant partner Departments and Agencies.
164. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if the District Heating Steering Group has reported to him regarding the sustainability of wood pellet stoves; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32787/23]
View answerThe question of sustainability of wood pellet stoves was not considered by the District Heating Steering Group. District heating schemes are large-scale systems that are supplied by one or several centralised or decentralised heat sources and serve multiple buildings and multiple customers.
The National Heat Study, published in February 2022, considered a number of potential decarbonisation options for a wide range of dwelling and business types. This included the use of liquid biofuels, solid biomass, biogases, and other technologies such as heat pumps and district heating networks. The Study found that heat pumps are the optimal decarbonisation path for domestic heating systems, with district heating also identified as a competitive option that can be widely deployed.
These approaches are being actively prioritised by Government and the Climate Action Plan 2023 includes a range of measures to address the use of fossil fuel in heating systems in buildings. A Heat and Built Environment Delivery Taskforce has also been established to accelerate and drive delivery in relation to retrofitting, renewable heat, district heat and decarbonisation of the building stock.
