Latest news with #EamonRyan
The Journal
2 days ago
- Business
- The Journal
Eamon Ryan lands new role as the EU's housing tsar
FORMER GREEN PARTY leader Eamon Ryan has been selected to chair an EU housing advisory board. The so-called EU housing tsar will chair an expert panel tasked with providing independent policy recommendations on housing. Europe is seeking to reduce the cost of building, buying and renting homes in EU member states, through loosening public expenditure rules and exploring methods for member state collaboration. Over 200 people applied to the board, which typically comes with an expenses rate for travel and other costs, as well as reimbursement fees. Ryan is joined by 15 other people from different backgrounds, and expertise on housing policy, on the panel. Advertisement He confirmed the news and explained his new role in a post to social media this morning. The Journal reported last week that the EU is considering placing restrictions on short-term lets in order to free up housing supply for those living in large cities . While the EU cannot set housing targets, it can reduce barriers to the market. It comes after he was appointed as a high advocate for Ireland on a coalition between governments and green NGOs as part of the UN Environment Programme. The ex-Minister for Transport and Climate, Communications and the Environment stepped down from this party leadership role in June 2024 after over 13 years in the role. He served as one of three coalition leaders during the last government. Ryan announced at the time of his leadership resignation that he would not be contesting the 2024 general election and stepping away from politics. He was among a number of senior politicians to do so in the last term. Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and ex Tánaiste Simon Coveney also landed new roles since leaving public office, in an advisory role at the PR company Penta Group and a consultant role to EY Ireland , respectively. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Eamon Ryan appointed chairman of EU housing advisory board
Former minister for the environment Eamon Ryan has been appointed by the European Commission to chair their housing advisory board. Having run unsuccessfully for the Dublin constituency in the 2014 EU parliament elections, this is Mr Ryan's first job in an EU institution. The former Green Party leader will lead the 15-person board which will answer to the commission's housing taskforce. It is 'tasked with providing concrete, independent policy recommendations for the commission to consider' in relation to the European Affordable Housing Plan, expected to be released in early 2026. READ MORE The EU's renewed housing initiative 'intends to at least double renovation rates in the EU by breaking down long-standing barriers to energy and resource-efficient renovation as well as improving reuse and recycling'. 'By 2030 the construction sector could see 35 million renovated buildings and up to 160,000 additional green jobs,' the commission said. [ Eamon Ryan: We can't afford to let the climate crisis get swallowed up in the culture wars Opens in new window ] The board met for the first time yesterday and is expected to reconvene in September. The commission said 'over 200 qualified individuals applied' to sit on the board, with the final board being 'a balanced representation across different profiles and areas of expertise, along with a geographical and gender balance'. Other members of the board include university professors, typically in sociology, economics and government, current and former politicians, investment managers and real estate executives. Mr Ryan stood down from his Green Party leadership position in June 2024 after a poor result in EU and local elections. He did not contest the general election later that year. He has served as minister for transport and minister for the environment, climate and communications from 2020 to 2025. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann from 2002 to 2011 and again from 2016 to 2024.
Euractiv
3 days ago
- Politics
- Euractiv
The trouble with trilogues – when things start falling apart
The palaver last weekend after the European Commission's press service revealed that it intended to withdraw at the last minute an anti-greenwashing bill has reignited a debate about the integrity of the EU legislative process. The problem is rooted in the fact that the European Commission – often referred to as the executive arm of the EU and tasked with ensuring implementation of, and compliance with, European law – also has sole prerogative for proposing new laws. The two bodies that complete the holy trinity of EU government – the directly elected European Parliament and the Council of Ministers – do not enjoy that right. They can (and in resolutions and summit conclusions, frequently do) 'call on' the Commission to propose a law. But the Berlaymont is not obliged to comply. So the main arena where the two legislative bodies get to put their stamp on EU law is in back-room negotiations between MEPs and diplomats, with the Commission acting as umpire or 'honest broker' – hence the Brussels neologism 'trilogue talks'. Playing the game As countries like Russia or, closer to home, Hungary have shown us, democracy is not merely a matter of having the right institutions in place, a written constitution (the EU has to make do with its treaties, after efforts to forge a European basic law collapsed in 2004) and an election win. Democracy also requires that politicians observe democratic customs and norms. Put simply, that they play the game. The trilogue process does not even have the benefit of being codified in law. It is a custom that has arisen because the alternative – endless readings and re-readings of bills conducted at least partly in public – would probably drag on for years before hitting a brick wall. Lately, several governments haven't quite been playing the game. Germany – egged on by the now moribund liberal FDP, a junior coalition party at the time – reneged in 2023 on a trilogue agreement to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2035, until the Commission served up a plate of face-saving fudge. Viktor Orbán's Hungary pulled a similar stunt last year when, after realising it carried the casting vote, it flipped on an agreed Nature Restoration Law. A 'disgrace', cried Ireland's environment minister Eamon Ryan. It only made it into the Official Journal after Austria got off the fence. Now, with a deforestation regulation postponed before even taking effect, many fear the nature law is in the Commission's sights as it presses on with the 'simplification' Green Deal legislation. Ireland had warned that 'backtracking on agreed negotiations and compromises would jeopardise Europe's democratic institutions and call into question the entire EU policy-making and decision-making processes'. Now the denizens of the Berlaymont have been accused of not playing the game – by pre-empting the outcome of a final trilogue session and threatening to withdraw a Green Claims Directive that it feared was not shaping up as it wanted (that is, exempting the vast majority of EU firms). 'Abuse of power' 'This is a clear case of the Commission abusing its power in a partisan way against European citizens' best interests,' parliamentary rapporteur Tiemo Wölken said, pointing the finger at President von der Leyen, her Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall, and their political family the European People's Party (EPP). After the Commission's unexpected intervention, Italy withdrew its support and the EU Council could no longer support the bill in its current form. With the EPP and right-wing allies having already threatened to reject any trilogue deal in parliament, it was effectively dead in the water anyway. A meeting of EU diplomats on Wednesday saw several countries raise doubts about trust and the credibility of the legislative process while some pointed to an increasing tendency of the EU executive to try and bury files, according a source close to the meeting. It remains to be seen whether the incoming Danish presidency of the Council of the EU can salvage something from this mess, but in some ways the damage is already done. For its part, the Commission has reiterated since Friday that it reserves the 'right of initiative' – to propose or withdraw legislation at will. Spokespeople have papered over the inconvenient fact that the EU Court of Justice ruled a decade ago that the right of initiative does not amount to a right of veto. Whether the European Commission's belated justification for its 'intention' to withdraw – that the legislation was incompatible with a deregulatory 'simplification' agenda that had not yet been dreamt up when the bill was tabled in 2023 – would have stood up in court, we will probably never know. But if the rules of the game have been changed, it's time somebody told us.
Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Times
Roads budget increased for National Development Plan
The development of important road projects will be accelerated in changes to government policy from that of the previous coalition. Final talks on the review of the national development plan will take place in the next fortnight, with an extra €20 billion expected to be allocated for infrastructure on top of the existing €165 billion. A source said stalled projects would be fast-tracked as the roads budget would be given 'certainty and stability'. Under the previous version, negotiated when the Green Party was in government, there was a two-to-one split in favour of public transport over road projects, and Eamon Ryan, the former Green leader and transport minister, said some projects would not go ahead. A senior government source said this weekend that 'we are not governed by ratios the way we were before' and the overall roads budget would benefit from 'more certainty and stability' than was previously the case.
Irish Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
State can avoid need for costly gas terminal if it phases out fossil fuels, says climate council chair
Ireland will not need to invest in a costly State-owned gas terminal to maintain its energy security if it pursues a carefully timed phase-out of fossil fuels over the next 15 years, the chair of a key climate advisory body has said. Addressing a committee of politicians on Wednesday, Marie Donnelly said Ireland may need a liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing facility with storage, but with an orderly phase-out of costly fossil fuels, and using biogas as backup in the form of biomethane from extensive used of anaerobic digestion technology, it will not be necessary. Without a phase-out of fossil fuels, householders and businesses face increased energy costs, while even more fines and compliance costs would hit the State, warned Ms Donnelly, chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council , which is an independent organisation that assesses the State's transition sustainability. The cost of setting up and operating an LNG facility is in the order of €900 million, including lease and operating costs, according to analysis by Cambridge Economic Policy Associates in its review of the State's energy security, commissioned by former climate minister Eamon Ryan in 2022. READ MORE Ms Donnelly noted that Ireland faces more stringent limits on amounts of legally permitted carbon, so 'phase-out and ultimately eliminating fossil fuels' is key. Committing to emissions reductions is necessary to allow the country to achieve carbon neutrality, she said. To enable the phase-out, the Government 'must urgently commit to making the necessary investment, taxation and policy decisions'. 'It needs to prioritise investment and resources now to save people and businesses money by phasing out fossil fuels to avoid future fines and compliance costs, maintain competitiveness in a low-carbon world and enhance resilience to climate change ,' she said. A notable success is the programme of deep retrofits of houses, she said. This decarbonisation of buildings has been helped by the ring-fencing of carbon tax . [ We don't need a floating liquefied natural gas facility. There is a better way Opens in new window ] The least successful sector is forestry , while reducing transport emissions remains the most challenging sector, she said. Despite policies to incentivise afforestation with financial incentives, key targets were missed. Ms Donnelly said 'the sector is in total disarray', with an annual target of 8,000 hectares a year, and reaching only 2,000 in a good year. 'It's a real challenge to understand and deal with the reluctance of those who have land – farmers and others – to invest in forestry.'
