Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
574. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the actions and engagements her Department has taken to date to reduce carbon emissions and to increase energy efficiency in all buildings under her Department. [40922/22]
View answerAs has been previously advised to the House my Department participates in the Public Sector Energy Reporting Programme and provides energy consumption data to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) which manages the reporting process on behalf of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.
In the SEAI Annual Report 2021 the Department and its agencies reported 39% energy savings as against baseline levels recorded in 2009.As the Deputy will be aware the management of buildings occupied by staff of my Department is primarily a matter for the Office of Public Works. As a consequence, an energy management company has been engaged by OPW to liaise with officials in my Department for the purposes of identifying better building energy management systems. My officials continue to work with the OPW to introduce behavioural changes and implement measures which contribute to improvement in overall energy efficiently performance levels in Department buildings.
As required under The Climate Action Plan my Department has appointed a Climate and Sustainability Champion and established a Green Team which will be responsible for the development and implementation of the Department’s Climate Action Roadmap, in compliance with the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate.
