Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 July 2016
832. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when the sectorial plan will be produced in the context of climate change; if there will be a consultation process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24027/16]
View answer837. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the sums being factored into future budgets in the context of transport on our climate obligations; the scenarios those sums are being tested against; how far into the future this is being considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24061/16]
View answer840. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the sums being factored into future budgets in the context of transport on our climate obligations; the scenarios, if any, those sums are being tested against; how far forward is it being considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24109/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 832, 837 and 840 together.
Section 4 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 contains provisions relating to the development and approval of successive National Mitigation Plans which will incorporate sectorial mitigation measures. The primary objective of each National Mitigation Plan is to specify and adopt the policy measures required to manage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at an appropriate level to ensure that the national transition objective set out in the Act can be furthered incrementally. The first National Mitigation Plan will track implementation of measures already underway and identify additional measures within the longer term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and progress the overall national low carbon transition agenda to 2050.
The Act creates a statutory obligation on a number of sectors, including transport, to develop sectorial climate change mitigation measures for inclusion in the national plan.
My Department, in consultation with key stakeholders, has been making good progress on developing proposals for transport measures as our contribution to the Plan. As the Deputy will know, the National Plan will also incorporate input from the key sectors of electricity generation, built environment and agriculture.
Officials from my Department are also engaging with other sectors responsible for preparing mitigation plan measures through representation on a Steering Group chaired by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. This collaboration will seek to secure that the most appropriate of the sectorial measures would be selected for inclusion in the national plan. The development of measures is taking place in the context of and subject to the generally applying budgetary processes governing proposals for additional spending and taxation measures.
The new Programme for a Partnership Government contains a commitment to publish the draft National Mitigation Plan for public consultation within 6 months of the new Government forming. This will allow the public and stakeholders to feed into the continued development of the Plan. It is envisaged that a final National Mitigation Plan will be submitted to Government in May 2017.
