47 minute read
Sinn Féin’s Darren O’Rourke TD discusses
“At the heart of that is the need for a fair and just transition,” he insists, asking: “Where is the community dividend, where is the community return, where is the State ownership, where is the State leading on these issues?”
While acknowledging the specific community-led projects aspect of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS), he maintains that the Government’s ambitions for communityled renewable energy are insufficient and that there is untapped potential.
“The Government has eventually come onto the same page as us. On paper, we agree that there needs to be ambition for solar PV on schools, farms, and homes. The problem we have with government is that it is not acting on or enabling it.
“We think that there is a case for additional support with grid connection fees for community projects as well,” he adds.
“There is considerable scope for greater understanding of the need for this type of infrastructure and cooperation and engagement with communities to deliver it. That is absolutely not to say that there is not a role for the private sector. We know that there is and will be into the future, but it is about the blend.”
Green hydrogen
At the close of 2021, O’Rourke launched his Green Hydrogen Strategy Bill 2022 seeking to “ensure the State is prepared to realise the full potential of green hydrogen through the preparation of a national hydrogen strategy”.
Initiated in February 2022 and currently at Dáil Second Stage, the Private Members’ Bill would, if enacted, oblige the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to draft and publish a hydrogen strategy within six months.
“As in all of these cases, we would rather that the Government lifted it, ran with it, and delivered it itself. It would be the most efficient way to get it done,” O’Rourke remarks.
Defining what a national hydrogen strategy for Ireland would look like, the Sinn Féin spokesperson alludes to the European Commission’s strategy which was published in July 2020 and the Scottish experience.
Darren O’Rourke TD, Sinn Féin’s Spokesperson on Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport
“It is all about the statement of intent, of showing researchers and early adapters in this space that there is a commitment in Ireland to support and to try to nurture that, bringing it to its maximum potential,” he begins, adding: “There are scientific and technological developments, and some will be more successful than others. But I think it is important for Ireland to realise the potential of this.”
Offshore wind
Equipped with an 80 by 30 target, by which it intends to increase the share of electricity generated from renewable sources from 4.5GW to approximately 15GW, the Government has committed to delivering a target of 5GW of offshore wind by 2030.
However, while the Phase One offshore wind projects are in the early stages, O’Rourke is sceptical that this commitment will be met.
“We are hearing from informed sources that there is a real chance that even with the delivery of the committed projects, there will be a failure to deliver the 5GW and that we should consider, for example, going with a floating offshore auction or at least a ring-fenced floating offshore auction earlier than had been initially intended, with the opportunity to bring in some of that west coast wind towards the end of the decade or early into the 2030s,” he states. Recognising the significant potential of Ireland’s offshore wind resources, the Sinn Féin TD stresses the volume of preparatory work required to unlock this at scale. Discussing the development of the National Marine Planning Framework and the resourcing of An Bord Pleanála, he emphasises the need for immediate action.
“According to Wind Energy Ireland, it takes approximately 10 years to develop, consent, design, finance, construct, and commission a typically sized offshore wind farm. It is that idea of queueing theory; decisions that are made now have a knock-on effect. We must make decisions now to be ready to begin production in 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. The concern is that if the institutions are not up and running, there will be further delay.”
Onshore wind
In November 2021, Sinn Féin withdrew its widely criticised Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2020. If enacted, the Bill would have severely restricted the development of onshore wind in Ireland, as well as ban the export of energy produced by onshore turbines.
Regardless, O’Rourke denies that his party makes a distinction between onshore and offshore wind. “The Bill was drafted at a different time and was of its time. This is the nature of opposition legislation; you go in, try to tease it out, 4
and improve on it,” he insists.
“What it sought to do was to ensure an appropriate framework for the development of onshore wind. The objective is to maximise the amount of onshore wind and to ensure that it is delivered in a fair way that engages local communities.
“It is important to recognise that there is a particular challenge there. It is frustrating for communities. If you look at the number of parliamentary questions, put down, including by former ministers, wondering where the new [Wind Energy Development Guidelines] are.
“The important point to take from that is that these are contentious developments that need proper planning and proper engagement to ensure their delivery. The industry itself has got better at it.”
Carbon tax
Meanwhile, major reductions to carbon emissions are going to be required to meet national objectives and European obligations on climate action. Indeed, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate alternatives for people, the principle of the polluter pays and carbon pricing itself is not something that we are opposed to,” he says.
Explicitly, his party censured the approach taken by successive governments, and he identifies a perceived failure to offset the real impact of fuel price increases for “the ordinary people that I represent, and who know that things are getting tougher”.
Ultimately, O’Rourke maintains that climate action must simultaneously ensure that those who are most exposed – the poorest and the most vulnerable –are protected during the green transition. “For me, the transition should not drive people into poverty or further into poverty,” he says, adding: “It is about providing alternatives for people and supports for people to transition, particularly if they are dependent on fossil fuels.”
Change has suggested that a high price on carbon is crucial.
Despite this, Sinn Féin has vociferously opposed successive increases in the carbon tax. In the context of spiralling fuel and energy costs, O’Rourke insists that the concept of carbon tax as an environmental tax to drive behavioural change is redundant.
“The level of elasticity within the system has shown that when people do not have options and they do not have alternatives, it is practically impossible for them to wean themselves off fossil fuels. The effect of a carbon tax, or increases on the price of carbon, in that context, is punitive,” he contends.
“An important point to say is that we have had carbon taxes here in Ireland since 2010; our emissions have increased every single year or certainly have not reduced. The same will be said for the first three years of this government.”
However, O’Rourke maintains that Sinn Féin is not entirely opposed to the concept of a carbon tax. “In the context of failing to provide affordable, achievable
Vision
Criticising what he perceives to be a lack of vision in the Government’s approach to climate action, O’Rourke suggests that broad agreement across the political spectrum for “real and urgent climate action” has been squandered.
“We need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels as quickly and as aggressively as possible, and transition to renewables. We have a spectacular resource in wind. We have an excellent resource in solar. We have the state agencies to realise that potential and we have the potential to create an environment that will realise that ambition. But government is failing to do that in terms of the institutions and the architecture to deliver on that,” he concludes.
“Even if the next general election is in 2025, this government will have missed every one of its annual emissions reduction targets. That is a very significant statement, and it is the greatest proof of policy failure.
“I believe that there is a better way and the way to actually deliver on the transition is to do it fairly, with communities, and to harness the keen interest and ability of communities to deliver on this.”
Minster Foley unveils Leaving Certificate reforms
Minister for Education Norma Foley TD announced planned reforms for the secondary-level senior cycle in late-March 2022, with the most immediate change that those entering fifth year in September 2023 will now sit Leaving Cert papers one in Irish and English at the end of fifth year.
Longer-term reforms to the senior cycle will also include the introduction of two new subjects – drama, film and theatre studies, and climate action and sustainable development – that will be piloted in schools from 2024, and adjustments to the weighting of overall grades, with a maximum of 60 per cent of final grades to be based on written exams and the remainder to come from assessment components such as project work, oral examinations, or practical exams. Curricula and assessment models will also be updated in chemistry, physics, biology, and business studies.
With exams to now be spread over the two years of the senior cycle, authorities have clarified that those who find themselves repeating their Leaving Cert will be permitted to redo all exams in the space of one year. While the pilot schools for these new subjects, curricula and assessment models have yet to be decided, it is likely to be 2028 at the earliest when these reforms are rolled out across all schools, meaning that those currently in any year of second-level education are unlikely to encounter the new Leaving Cert. While the move away from the traditional three-week intensive exam period has been welcomed, the CAO points system is unlikely to change as yet, meaning pressure on students to secure points will still be prevalent. Foley said: “This is an ambitious programme of reform. It will enrich students’ educational experience by increasing their choices to match their interests and enhancing teaching and learning. It will reduce the pressure on students that comes from final assessments based primarily on examinations. We will move to a model that uses other forms of assessment, over a less concentrated time period, in line with international best practice.”
Teachers have responded to the proposed reforms in a manner consistent with the proclamations of their unions in the lead up to their unveiling; having performed assessments on their own students on a “no precedent” basis during the Covid-stricken Leaving Certs of 2020 and 2021, they have once again stated their opposition to permanently carrying out assessments of their own students.
Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) President Eamon Dennehy said: “It is longstanding ASTI policy that certification in the state exams is entirely externally assessed. This must be retained in all aspects of the development of the Leaving Cert. It vital that the integrity of the state exams system is maintained… It is essential that the mistakes made in the introduction of the Framework for Junior Cycle in recent years, which sidelined the voice of teachers, must not be repeated.”
Tara Reale
The promise of RESS and the subsequent confirmation that there will be at least four onshore RESS auctions is what enabled us to develop in Ireland and invest in the country, despite some of the challenges and uncertain economics around solar in the country. Similarly, the Climate Action Plan, the 80 per cent by 2030 target, these have enabled us to build a business case for staying in the country. It is a little bit more challenging as there are no alternative routes to market, but these are still positive as the Government has enabled us to develop here.
Peter Lynch
Our mandate is to deliver 1GW of new onshore wind projects by 2030. That is significant and to get there we had to look at our policy pillars. Fundamentally, they were there in the 2016-2018 period with the underlying EU legislation being transposed into Ireland and the success of REFIT. That example should not go unmentioned: a well-designed structure worked for everybody in the ecosystem, from developers to owner-operators and investors. For those reasons, there is an understanding that the country can do this. The headline pillars are rock solid from a European perspective down into Ireland and all of these things have been important in giving our business the confidence to go forward.
What are the most significant barriers inhibiting renewable energy capacity in Ireland, and what policy changes could overcome these challenges?
Cathal Hennessy
Grid infrastructure is the number one risk for all renewable energy deployment. Firstly, the key concern is that ESB Networks and EirGrid do not have the necessary resources to deliver on the 2030 targets and beyond. Secondly, Ireland is unique in that it does not offer firm grid connections. That means you have to factor in dispatch down into your financial model – that can mean 10, 12, even 14 per cent dispatch down for some regions in Ireland and that in turn is passed onto the consumer. That gives a disincentive to invest in the Irish market and that’s not the case in other European markets.
Tara Reale
Grid is also the big issue for us but with a different nuance. Getting the capacity in 4
Roundtable participants
Val Cummins
Val Cummins is Managing Director of the Emerald and Western Star floating wind joint venture partnerships between the Simply Blue Group and Shell. She joined Simply Blue as Ireland Projects Director in 2021 following 21 years as a researcher and entrepreneurial academic in University College Cork. Val is also Chair of the Wind Energy Ireland FLOSH Committee (floating offshore wind, supergrid and hydrogen); a council member of Wind Energy Ireland; and a council member and non-executive director of the Marine Renewables Industry Association (MRIA). An Eisenhower Fellow, she is co-editor of the Coastal Atlas of Ireland, published in 2021 and winner of the An Post Best Irish Published Book of the Year and served as co-chair of Future Earth Coasts from 2016 to 2020.
James Delahunt
James is a Director in KPMG’s Corporate Finance practice and leads the renewable energy mergers and acquisitions and financing service line of KPMG Sustainable Futures. James has advised on over €3 billion worth of energy transactions totalling over 4GW of assets in recent years. He also advises developers and investors on the financing strategy in relation to their asset portfolios.
Cathal Hennessy
Cathal Hennessy is the Managing Director of RWE Renewables Ireland. Cathal leads the growth of RWE’s renewables business in Ireland, which currently includes onshore wind, offshore wind, and battery storage developments. Having started his career in renewables with the Irish state forestry company Coillte, primarily working on the successful development of their REFIT 2 assets, Cathal joined Europe’s largest solar PV developer, Lightsource bp, establishing their Irish business. He holds a science degree from University College Dublin, and post-graduate qualifications in sustainable energy finance, accountancy, and project management.
Peter Lynch
Peter Lynch is the CEO of FuturEnergy Ireland, the renewable energy development company which was established in late 2021 and is jointly owned by Coillte and ESB. Prior to this, Peter was the Managing Director of the Renewable Energy Division in the Coillte Group, having previously held senior commercial positions for Mainstream Renewable Power in its European offshore wind division and for NTR plc in its US solar business. Peter started his career as a corporate lawyer with a leading Irish law firm and holds a law degree from UCD and an MBA from INSEAD. He is a director and the current Chairperson of Wind Energy Ireland (WEI).
Tara Reale
As Head of Business Development for Lightsource bp (LSbp) across the UK and Ireland, Tara Reale is responsible for the overall management of all LSbp development activity in Ireland and leads on the development of the early-stage pipeline in the UK, including the expansion of the business into co-located storage and green hydrogen. Prior to joining LSbp, Tara was a Principal Project Manager for Amey Investments, a Senior Technical and Commercial Adviser for Mott MacDonald, and a Structural Engineer with Aecom. Tara graduated from UCC in 2009 as a civil and environmental engineer, before completing a PhD in asset management at Trinity College Dublin in 2013.
the first instance is the challenge for us. EirGrid’s onshore transmission plan is based on 1GW of solar PV by 2030. With the focus on offshore wind, we seem to be putting all our eggs in one basket. Offshore generation is certainly an opportunity, but will it be there is sufficient scale by 2030. Whereas onshore wind could be deployed much quicker and there is already a huge pipeline of projects. There is a lot of uncertainty around grid connections. ECP (enduring connection policy) 2.3 is due this September and there has been no announcement if the same type of rollout [of connection offers] will continue into the future. This is a huge concern for us. We are keen to invest in Ireland but it’s difficult to make a business case for that investment with such an uncertain regulatory framework.
Peter Lynch
The issue of resources is a much more fundamental problem. Until now we have just about got by with the existing structure, but it appears to be grinding to a halt. We are talking about doubling our renewable ambition in half the time and the multiple effect of that is critical. When we talk about resourcing, we need to look at the detail. The all-of-government approach makes sense, but resourcing issues go beyond the grid companies. They affect all the main players such as ABP, CRU and the local councils. Resourcing issues go beyond just the head count. It’s about understanding required specific capabilities and skills. This issue is even more difficult as we are asking more and more of these organisations as the industry grows exponentially. Now is a good time to stand back and see what resources we need across all agencies to deliver these ambitious targets.
James Delahunt
The barriers can be grouped into four categories: land; planning; grid; and route to market. The big issue cutting across all these is resourcing and skills within the agencies and also in the wider energy sector in Ireland. We see our clients facing challenges in recruiting quality people to deliver on their own ambitions. For government policy, it is an issue that goes beyond DECC (Department of Environment, Climate and Communications) to other departments such as Department of the Taoiseach and Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
Val Cummins
We would put grid as the main barrier also. Firstly, on the issue of grid reinforcements and upgrades, there is a lack of confidence in how Shaping Our Electricity Future was arrived at. It’s critical for us as we are looking to land 800MW off the south coast, with 400MW into Cork Harbour. Secondly, the low hanging fruit was ignored in Shaping Our Electricity Future. For example, the west coast was not considered adequately, with no plan to connect offshore wind to existing grid capacity at Moneypoint. Finally, we can accelerate offshore wind development by looking at hybrid grid connections, whereby two or more generation sources can share a grid connection.
Peter Lynch
In terms of leadership, the sector is good at talking to itself. Testimony to this is the recent Wind Energy Ireland (WEI) annual conference, a great event with excellent content, but could be viewed as being too inward-focused. There is a unique opportunity to grasp and a potential threat to avoid with the upcoming REPowerEU proposals, which look as if they will give priority to renewable energy projects across a few fronts. However, if it is too blunt an instrument or poorly introduced into Ireland, we run the risk of disenfranchising certain groups which should participate in the transition process. If that legislation comes through, we need to ensure a correct balance is struck. Without that balance, we will make things much harder for all renewable electricity developments in the longer run and risk opening up a new cycle of legal challenges. We are already seeing aspects of this at a lower level, where local councils are finding it difficult to support county development plans that are future-proofed for climate action. In many cases, the planning regulator is now intervening. Regional planning needs to be implemented and done so properly. While REPowerEU has great potential for the sector, the challenge is that it will require both quick and careful transposition to local law and implementation from there.
Cathal Hennessy
Another barrier is the market. We are a very small electricity market. Renewable electricity from onshore and offshore wind and solar PV most likely is the lowest cost of new generation which drives down the cost of electricity. That is good for consumers but from an investor perspective this damages the signals from the market. To address this we need policy interventions to encourage more investment in interconnection and to facilitate the development of new demand sources for electricity. Most recently, we have seen negative policies towards demand sources of electricity, such as data
centres – that is a retrograde step. To facilitate more renewables and more investment in local communities and in Irish supply chains we need more demand. That is a key risk and there is a tipping point where investment signals will stop.
How can Ireland increase its international competitiveness to better secure capital investment in renewables?
James Delahunt
To achieve Ireland’s renewable electricity ambitions, it will require the largest public and private investment into a single sector in the history of the State. This will mostly come from international capital, which is in demand worldwide. From an Irish perspective we need to ensure that we are not complacent about attracting this capital. Capital has been plentiful in recent years but that may be about to change. Some global capital providers have already decided to focus on other markets. Not because Ireland has done anything wrong; it is just that they do not have the bandwidth to cover all markets. From a policy perspective, we cannot take the availability of capital for granted. We need to maintain the market attractiveness to attract capital with policy certainty and clear timelines. We are competing with other jurisdictions where the base case for planning will not be appealed and going to judicial review or An Bord Pleanála. RESS has been good at attracting investment, but we also need a corporate PPA (power purchase agreements) strategy.
Tara Reale
We need to attract both capital and investors. A key difficulty, particularly for PV, is that RESS is the only route to market. There needs to be alternative routes to give developers certainty. Although each of the different renewable electricity technologies have their own difficulties, a common problem is curtailment. A recent decision on the grandfathering of constraints on the system means that all generation on the system before 2019 has priority over generation after that date. It is a complete unknown for new generation projects and as more new projects come onto to the system the level of constraint will only increase. That is extremely difficult for investors who are taking a long-term view.
I work across the UK and Ireland, and I am asked why is Ireland so expensive? That is due to business rates that are two to three times higher than in the UK and network charges in Ireland are based per megawatt rather than per megawatt hour, which is difficult for technologies with lower capacity factors. EirGrid and ESB have very stringent specifications and getting more so. We all end up paying for over-specified substations that are not necessary.
James Delahunt
Peter Lynch
On the positive side, we have the wind resource, and we have a track record of developing it that is the envy of most developed countries. The deployment level of renewable electricity is high but mostly on the shoulders of onshore wind. However, there are a number of impediments to this. The effective transposition of EU laws is important. Firstly, we need to go back to source and ensure any rules set down at an EU level work for Ireland. Secondly, we can do better on the transposition itself, particularly around ensuring regulations are fit for purpose. We need to avoid cliff edges in policy. The road maps have been helpful and RESS, although late, has been good, but the lack of visibility on the next grid connection rounds is not helpful. We need to avoid these policy cliff edges if we are to attract investors into Ireland. Thirdly, we need to avoid own goals. The fact that the wind energy guidelines are still unresolved is a big own goal and creates a fog of uncertainty. Investors and developers coming into this market for the first time are asking which policy framework is relevant. We need clarity as soon as possible.
Val Cummins
The attraction and retention of FDI is a key issue for the sector. There is a high level of interest in investing in renewable energy in Ireland but the experience of investors has not always been positive. For example, Equinor departed from offshore wind last year citing frustration with our regulatory system. We need to be much more competitive in the offshore wind sector, with an industrial strategy to develop the sector in Ireland. We have had success in developing other sectors through the work of IDA and Enterprise Ireland and they should now focus on the renewable energy supply chain opportunity: job creation and skills development. Offshore wind development is being driven by DECC, whereas we need to bring in an enterprise dimension to policy, including a policy on how we develop our ports in relation to the offshore wind sector.
Cathal Hennessy
In RWE, we invest globally and we firstly
4
Peter Lynch
It is difficult to figure out what category to put private wires in; it is a new deployment of an existing technology that is going to require smart thinking. Looking across the emerging technologies, we do not have to split the atom. The headline technology signals are being sent to us by Europe, especially in the case of hydrogen. We can define our own smart version of that but closer to home we need something on the private wires and storage side. There are incubators figuring out these technologies around the globe in countries with significant heritage in this space. The more important point is we need to be happy with taking risks on the policy side and to be comfortable with making a few mistakes along the way. That would be better than inertia.
Tara Reale
We need to be forward looking in our subsidies. Right now, RESS, only supports established technologies. As we move towards a market with a higher penetration of renewables, we are going to need long-duration storage, which is not quite commercially viable yet. We need to get the supports in place to enable those projects to be there when they’re needed rather than this punctuated delay that we would see otherwise.
Cathal Hennessy
None of us are technology providers. We deploy other people’s technologies and what is interesting about that is that established technologies that drive to reduce the cost of energy are very much ingrained in those providers. If we look at the last five years, how onshore wind turbines have evolved, three years ago, a 3MW turbine was big, now we are at 6.5MW and what that does is reduce costs to the consumer. The continuous evolution of existing technologies like battery storage and turbines is quite interesting. Hydrogen is an old technology but what is interesting there is the cost coming down; what is emerging is around grid infrastructure and technology deployment to make it more efficient, utilising existing transmission cables and increasing their capacity without the need for more lines.
What one policy area would you like to see action on to accelerate renewable energy in Ireland?
Peter Lynch
The one bit that continues to frustrate is leadership. It is easy to point to other people and ask for leadership but we need to start with asking it of ourselves and making sure that we as industry participants are doing everything we can to go about our work in a transparent way. It has been a feature of the last couple of years that we expect this industry to be the number one, two, or three priority all the time and sadly it is not, and it has never been. We have spoken about security of supply for 15 years, but it has only gained meaning in the last few months. We as an industry need to take more responsibility to encourage politicians to stand up and speak more loudly in support of our sector.
big step.” Cathal Hennessy
Tara Reale
We do not have a process in our planning system by which you can get what’s termed in the UK a non-material amendment. Given how fast technology is changing, particularly for solar PV, you can’t procure the panels that were on your initial planning application. You then run into difficulties about orientation and certain councils are more flexible, but others are not. That is something of which we need to be more cognisant.
James Delahunt
If we are going to achieve this over the next 10, 20 years, it’s going to impact everyone in the country one way or another. It is important to communicate at every opportunity how important this is; we saw the power of an allgovernment approach during Covid when everyone was pulling in the same direction. That was a masterclass in terms of communication. When we look at other countries, Denmark for example, people have bought into renewables. Having a strategy around that gives more license to politicians to be bolder.
Val Cummins
I am reminded of the saying “culture eats strategy for lunch”; someone corrected me recently and said culture devours everything in its path. If we are saying leadership is about risk and if the pervading culture is risk-averse, then we won’t have the ability to plan or to be good ancestors, which is what this is about. It is about joined up thinking and having everybody in the room together.
Cathal Hennessy
It would be very positive if each local authority had a megawatt hour target for generation based on the resource available in their geographical area. There is unfortunately a lot of skating around responsibility and if each local government had targets around megawatt hours and CO2 reduction, that would be a big step.
“We are working across government and with public bodies to provide businesses with the supports they need to invest in energy efficient practices.”
In relation to agriculture, the single largest contributor to overall emissions in the country, Smyth acknowledges that the sector must make a positive contribution to the transition to a climate resilient and low carbon society, if Ireland is to meet its reduction targets.
The Climate Action Plan commits to a reduction of agriculture-related emissions of between 22 to 30 per cent by 2030 and Smyth says that the core measures to deliver on this will offer farmers ways to reduce carbon emissions at farm level, by becoming more efficient, while being offered opportunities to diversify their agricultural activities.
“Further measures will be developed over the coming years which will achieve this reduction by 2030 and set our society on the path toward climate neutrality by 2050,” he states.
Just transition
Emphasising that a just transition sits at the core of the climate action plans, Smyth says that these principles will not only guide policy making and implementation in the coming years in monitoring and managing the transition but also enable response to future transition challenges and help target the areas in need of support.
Highlighting the commitment in the Climate Action Plan of a Just Transition Commission, the Minister of State says that the commission will make periodic recommendations to government, building on research, engagement through the National Dialogue on Climate Action, and the annual review from the Climate Change Advisory Council, on how government policy can further the just transition.
Pointing to the €60 million allocated by Minister Eamon Ryan TD from the Climate Action Fund for community climate action projects in November 2021, Smyth says that transition to a carbon neutral economy “will provide huge opportunities to foster innovation, create new jobs and grow businesses in areas like offshore wind, cutting-edge sustainable agriculture, and low carbon construction”.
“While we all must act together towards our climate objective, I realise that the costs of climate action will be more acutely felt by some than others,” he states.
International and EU policy
The Minister of State stresses that the climate crisis is a global affair, highlighting that international collaboration is key to determining a greener, healthier, and safer future for all.
“We must move forward from a place of extraction to one of rehabilitation, while ensuring no one is left behind,” he says. “Ireland is committed to a scaled up just transition to alternative energy systems and divestment from harmful fossil fuels for a greener, healthier future.”
Achievement will require not only international cooperation, but increased financial flows, Smyth says, outlining Ireland’s commitment at COP26 to providing €225 million per year to developing countries by 2025.
“Effective climate finance should support people in developing countries to prepare for a climate resilient future in terms of mitigation, adaptation and addressing loss and damage. However, these decisions must be led by the most affected, and Ireland will continue to amplify these voices in negotiations in recognition of the disproportionate impact they are facing from climate change, right now.”
He concludes: “Climate change is the single greatest challenge we face as a country and as a planet, it does not affect all people, countries or regions equally, but it will take everyone, working in unison, to meet our goals and help protect future generations.”
Salesforce: Helping Ireland accelerate Sláintecare and innovate globally
Louise Ashbrook, EMEA Health Vice President at Salesforce. Salesforce, the world’s leading customer relationship management tool, has entered the European health market. Salesforce played its part in the Irish healthcare vaccination rollout programme and is now setting its sights on contributing to the acceleration of Sláintecare reforms which will leapfrog Ireland towards the top of the EU Digital Health Leadership Board.
“It is important to recognise Ireland’s global leadership through the Covid pandemic and the speed that the HSE and the Irish healthcare system responded to the crisis. The EU specifically commended Ireland’s vaccination management rollout and we helped deliver a Salesforce ‘platform’ approach in Ireland with the HSE,” says Louise Ashbrook, EMEA Health Vice President at Salesforce. “We are helping healthcare systems around the world with post covid challenges such as population health management, chronic disease management and helping avoid health inequalities.”
Salesforce is committed to playing its part in the acceleration of Sláintecare reforms such as universal health care by ensuring that every patient receives the right care, in the right place at the right time. “A data driven approach can help enable some of the efficiencies required to work through the backlog of elective waiting lists that have built up during the pandemic,” says Ashbrook. “Priorities have changed and technology can play its part in solving issues such as complex discharge management that help people to get out of hospitals quickly and ensures they have the care and facilities needed in the community.”
There will be ever increasing demands for investment to support chronic disease management, critical care, acute inpatient services, more additional home support, GP access to diagnostics and increased community bed capacity to help deliver an accessible, equal and fair health service for all, addressing health inequalities to ensuring all of our communities are appropriately represented. Balancing these investments will require a data driven approach to service planning and resource allocation.
Delivering a high-quality integrated health care system requires a shift to putting patients at the heart of your healthcare system. The social determinants that drive health inequalities requires access to high quality and relevant data to ensure national healthcare providers, social care, commercial and voluntary organisations can provide effective outcomes for all patients.
Salesforce’s Global Chief Health Officer, Fatima Paruk, who has first-hand experience of medical practice in Ireland having worked here in the past, is quick to praise the progress made in Ireland thus far. “It is impressive to see how Ireland has evolved and how they are leveraging technology to deliver care more appropriately,” she says. “Thinking about where we are headed on a population level, we are making sure we are investing in proactively managing chronic disease, streamlining care, and thinking about the patient, who is now the consumer. There are a couple of things necessary for success in a population-based health approach and that involves meeting the patient where they are.”
It is perhaps through the prism of the pandemic that Salesforce’s role in the
Salesforce’s Global Chief Health Officer, Fatima Paruk.
Irish healthcare system is easiest understood. As a customer relationship management platform, Salesforce enabled the seamless management of vaccination records nationwide across the multiple points of vaccination delivery, such as GP surgeries, vaccination centres, care homes and pharmacies.
“The first iteration of that solution was in production within nine workng days,” explains Ashbrook. “That solution connected the healthcare workers with acute hospitals, GP practices, pharmacies, and vaccination centres, ensuring that there was a digital system for management of every vaccination across the population of Ireland. It also helped with patient engagement as the population logged onto a portal to book their appointment while our technology also ensured that HSE Live was able to answer citizens queries, quickly and effectively while also providing quality health data to ensure the public was kept well informed. The ability to build that at speed in an iterative way was what helped deliver that vaccine management programme across Ireland.”
Key to the use of platforms such as Salesforce’s is, of course, the collation and provision of high-quality data and an ability to read such data in order to inform better outcomes. “Therein lies the huge opportunity,” says Paruk. “When we think about leapfrogging, Sláintecare is leading the rest of the world in where we want to see the change and that is where the promise is. There is so much that will come out of this when it comes to positive outcomes. “When we look at designing a population-first approach to health and where the service design of the health system needs to focus on, things like unified patient score help health systems identify where the best outcomes can be gotten from and therefore direct where resources and investments need to be applied, making sure that all the money spent is directed to better outcomes.”
Enabling this population-first approach is Salesforce’s raison d’être in the Irish healthcare system. On this note, Paruk concludes that this is only possible with the help of Salesforce’s partners: “Ultimately, Salesforce is a business of enabling successful platforms. We work with a number of partners, local in Ireland and internationally, but our approach to collaboration and leveraging health data is key to making outcomes happen. We understand that our partners often have great insight at the local level into what’s going to work and what’s not going to. We can’t be the experts at everything, we are the open and connected platform that takes the friction out of these things happening, but we rely on our partners to truly drive successful outcomes.”
Further Information on Salesforce in Public Health in Ireland: W: salesforce.com/eu/publicsector
likely to be clustered into certain schools within the northern system when compared with the southern system. Those who are funnelled into non-grammar schools were found to have “low educational expectations relative to those who attend a grammar school, particularly for boys from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds”.
The proportion of graduates was found to be the same in both jurisdictions, but Northern Ireland was found to have a much smaller rate of people completing postsecondary non-third level qualifications, while postLeaving Certificate (PLC) courses have risen in popularity in the Republic. Ten per cent of northern school leavers attain such qualifications while 30 per cent of their southern counterparts do so. This is deemed to be “an area where cooperation across the island of Ireland may be useful”. This lack of take-up can be partly attributed to a perception of further education as a second-best when compared with higher education qualifications, a perception that the report attests to finding in both jurisdictions according to the stakeholders interviewed.
The report does note, however, that “important differences occur across the two jurisdictions in terms of the configuration of post-school opportunities within the
Northern Ireland was found to have a much smaller rate of people completing post-secondary non-third level qualifications, while post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses have risen in popularity in the Republic. Ten per cent of northern school leavers attain such qualifications while 30 per cent of their southern counterparts do so.
broader educational landscape”. Those interviewed were said to have highlighted recent policy developments in the Republic of Ireland as having the potential to change this perception, but respondents in the North emphasised the “challenges of having a multiplicity of providers and duplication of courses”.
While existing research and industry surveys have already highlighted the ‘high stakes’ nature of the assessment systems in both jurisdictions, with a heavy reliance on final exams for overall grades, stakeholders were said to have raised concerns to the ESRI around the secondary system preparing students for exams “rather than for the world of work and adult life”. In the Republic, plans to change this are afoot with the recently announced Leaving Certificate reforms setting a goal of no final exam accounting for any more than 60 per cent of a student’s overall grade. Wages were found to be significantly higher in the Republic than in Northern Ireland at all levels of education. The report states: “Higher returns to education can incentivise individuals to invest in their education and may in part be driving the low levels of attainment in Northern Ireland. Lower returns to education in Northern Ireland may also be reflective of lower productivity levels in Northern Ireland.”
Stakeholders interviewed by the ESRI were said to have highlighted examples of good practice in the case of cross-border cooperation, with common examples including teacher education initiatives through the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCoTENs), strong links between the inspectorates, the Middletown Centre for Autism, and the Joint Peace Fund. However, the report does note that “more generally, stakeholders highlighted that in many areas north-south links are ad hoc in nature and based on individual relationships or specific projects and initiatives, thus making sustained co-operation more challenging”. Stakeholders were nonetheless said to be willing to engage on more substantive issues with potential for cross-border collaboration.
Given the shared challenges across both jurisdictions in “trying to counter educational disadvantage and create
an inclusive educational system for students with special educational needs”, the ESRI suggests that these could be the starting points for discussions centred on future cooperation.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD said: “Today’s ESRI research adds significantly to the evidence and understanding we have on how our education systems serve students, families and communities on this island; how we could learn from each other north and south on education delivery and reform; and how we can do more together to enhance educational experience and outcomes for all.
“I believe these need to be central concerns for how we work through the Good Friday Agreement in the time ahead.”
Transport report
Sponsored by
Achieving transport objectives by sharing data
Sharing data across agencies operating in the transport sector will deliver many of the strategic objectives that improve mobility and deliver service enhancements; supporting essential services that also promote sustainability, safety, compliance, and sustainability, writes Andrew Smith, Business Development Director of Abtran.
Following the impact of the restrictions on travel over the last two years, we are seeing passenger numbers and road journeys returning to pre pandemic levels once again. In a post-Covid world, the transport sector is now responding to accelerated growth for both users and stakeholders. Responding to an accelerated set of needs and circumstances for both users and stakeholders. The recent pandemic demonstrates that large scale behaviour change is achievable and helps to shape our thinking for a future of sustainable and digital led services. Taking these factors into consideration the transport sector continues to move forward and deliver on their strategies, promoting new patterns of mobility and developing service improvements.
In addition to delivering some of the headline objectives in relevant government programmes such as
cycling and walking infrastructure, road user charging, decarbonisation, or public transport, there are many other objectives where the effective and efficient use of data will deliver many other benefits. The use and sharing of such data will be critical to supporting a variety of agendas, whether that be automation, digitisation, mobility services, improved reporting and analytics, or collaboration across agencies.
Data sharing
Historically the sharing of data across the transport sector and supporting agencies has previously been limited to covering high visibility areas such as enforcement on our roads, speeding, road tax, or toll charge payments as examples. As data controllers, each agency has a responsibility to secure and privatise the data it holds on users or customers, and with GDPR now firmly in place, this responsibility has come more into focus in recent years. The range of datasets accessible across agencies and the potential to further combine and share the data will go a long way to achieving various agency objectives for both the public and private sector, including An Garda Síochána, TII, RSA, NTA and other key stakeholders with transport related targets. This approach to data sharing is consistent with delivering integrated public service targets.
The GDPR rules as they stand should not stop agencies from optimising the sharing of data to support the delivery of their objectives where any additional legislation required for enforcement will progress in parallel. It is a key deliverable in the coming years to ensure that data across agencies is used effectively and GDPR should not be a constraint. While the integrity of personal data and privacy of the individuals whose data we hold is a primary consideration, there are already compliance and enforcement processes in practice across agencies today, highlighting existing data sharing protocols. These use cases are only possible however through the current relevant legislation such as the Roads Act 1993 or Data Protection Act where change and consolidation in future will be required. The objectives related to sharing data across the various transport strategies will continue to be developed, through road safety or road user charging for example, each with specific data requirements to support the deliverables of relevant agencies. The sharing of personal data has integrity and privacy at the core, however we can readily share non personal data such as vehicle data between agencies providing the legislative change is in place. Controlled sharing will support delivery of an enhanced service to the wider public and bring multiple benefits to wider stakeholders and government.
Technically, data sharing has become easier over the last 10 years with cloud infrastructure now the default hosting option rather than on premise, standardised data sharing models across organisations, established protocols and practices around use cases and data security all firmly established. This environment gives the data controller in the respective agency much more scope to manage their data effectively, whether it is for sharing with another stakeholder or supplier as a data processor or servicing a customer.
The opportunity is to ensure that each stakeholder delivers a flexible IT environment that readily captures data and is then presented in a standardised format and accessible through standard APIs. The drive towards sustainable motoring, emerging technologies such as electronic or autonomous vehicles, or GPS systems will provide new challenges on how best to capture,
4
store and use data. New road user charging models under development will in future be linked to journeys across the road network rather than individual charge points. This creates more useful data that will support other strategies such the use of ANPR information for road safety and speeding enforcement between two points; a programme that is already in pilot on our roads.
Transport authorities
Transport agencies and stakeholders will need to work together to implement the technological platforms, service portals and solutions needed for data sharing, reuse, real time access, and targeted management reporting. Today, solution partners and stakeholders are continually evolving new services across transport and other sectors that embrace a cloud first, API approach to delivering services that are more affordable, flexible, and responsive to the needs of the future. Effective collaboration will be essential to support the mode shift in coming years where experience across the supply chain with data sets that can be leveraged, drawing on use cases and proven approaches in other sectors and jurisdictions.
Across the various deliverables in the transport sector, whether it’s road safety or road user charging, the programmes require that partners are engaged and able to contribute effectively to support the objectives. Partners must be ready to play a part in pilot schemes, service transitions, and the general support of change across the industry. Change that addresses technical or operational functionality, or even public acceptability, will be an important consideration for incumbent or emerging partners working in collaboration with agencies to develop platforms and solutions that meet the diverse and future needs of users and stakeholders.
Summary
Data sharing and linking data sets with real-time access across the transport sector is one of the emerging deliverables for key transport agencies. Developing use cases that span agencies and delivering ready access to data and analytics across multiple platforms whether that be an API call or a portal service, will be a source of important value in the years ahead. New data led services for stakeholders and customers will deliver both an improved customer experience and capability to measure performance, while analytics will be crucial to support driving insights, identifying emerging trends and enhancements to transport services.
While the sharing of data has in the past been limited by a number of constraints such as legislation, technical limitations or differing agency objectives, the Climate Action Plan and individual transport objectives up to 2030 gives us a real opportunity to deliver on these key objectives, at least in part, through the sharing of data between agencies and key stakeholders. An integrated and consolidated approach to data through improvements to technology and data sharing will enable the transport agencies to deliver on their commitments and objectives. This will see the introduction of high levels of compliance on our private and public transport services, enabling road users to travel safely and access essential and sustainable services for our emerging sustainability and mobility needs. These solutions will leverage the information we have towards a data led and data driven future.
T: +353 21 230 1800 E: info@abtran.com W: www.abtran.com
Andrew Smith
In his role as Business Development Director, Andrew has responsibility for supporting customer service propositions in Abtran from tender proposals to contract development and has gained significant experience working with clients in transport on behalf of Abtran. Andrew has 18 years of experience in Customer Services solutions with a background in technology and transition programme delivery.
Egis is designing tomorrow’s transport, today
For more than 50 years, Egis has designed, built, and managed hundreds of flagship urban and transport projects worldwide. We offer you deep technical expertise and a partnership to last the lifespan of your project, and beyond.
We have the unique ability to deliver all forms of urban transport projects and manage them through their lifecycle, from upstream studies to upgrades or renewal. By working with you in the long term, we help you to ensure that your assets are operationally, financially, and environmentally efficient throughout their lifespan.
Although we are a large global company, we offer you a personalised service combined with an ethos of responsibility and positive environmental impact.
“Competences are the first thing we look at to choose our engineering partner, and Egis won over all the others based on its expertise and capabilities as integrator on large metro and light rail transit projects,” reads an extract from our latest customer satisfaction survey. Our expertise has been gained from managing the world’s most complex projects, covering metros, tramways and light rail transit, cable cars, people movers, buses, and stations.
Mobility design is undergoing radical changes, from the need to prepare for climate change to multimodal infrastructure and services.
As 'Mobility as a Service', low-carbon solutions, green mobility and peoplefriendly cities become more important, existing infrastructure and services need to be reshaped.
The right solution is different for every city and region, so we are able to define the most appropriate mobility services in your urban or interurban environment, by capitalising on Egis’ international footprint. Our key areas of expertise:
• institutional and organisational support;
• transport policy and planning;
• modelling and transport economics;
• traffic engineering and traffic management;
• smart mobility systems and equipment;
• speed enforcement;
• urban tolling and free flow tolling;
• smart parking and traffic management;
• booking and payment technologies;
• multimodal hubs;
• hypervision and regional/national control centres; and
• low emission zones and congestion charging.
Egis awarded a five-and-a-half-year contract to deliver the UK’s largest clean air zone.
In support of Greater Manchester’s aim to drive the growth of a healthy and sustainable city-region, Egis have been awarded a new contract to help deliver the largest clean air zone in the UK.
The clean air zone will operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It will be enforced by a network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, with vehicles liable to pay the charge using an online portal with discounts and exemptions available for some vehicle types.
T: +353 1 469 1200 E: info@egis.ie W: www.egis-projects.ie
