Vol. 536 No. 2
350 Ms Clune asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the membership of the high level cross departmental climate change team; the number of times this group has met; the progress it has made in implementing the National Climate Change Strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14100/01]
The cross-departmental, climate change team is chaired by my Department and currently consists of representatives of the Departments of Finance; Enterprise Trade and Employment; Agriculture, Food and Rural Development; Marine and Natural Resources, Public Enterprise; Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands; and the Office of Public Works. The team has meet on five occasions since February 2001. Its overall responsibility is to ensure the successful implementation of the measures set out in the national climate change strategy including the establishment of necessary consultative arrangements with the social partners, the development of a robust and comprehensive set of indicators at a sectoral and national level, overseeing the quantification of costs and benefits of the implementation of specific measures and undertaking the biennial review of the strategy in 2002 in consultation with Comhar. Since the team was set up a consultation process has been established to maintain appropriate liaison and information exchange with sectoral interests for purposes of implementation. In preparation for the consultation process, the lead Department and the timetable for implementation of each measure in the national climate change strategy was identified.
Work is also under way on the development of a long-term communications strategy addressing awareness of climate change. Comhar has prepared proposals for this and the climate team have an important role in ensuring this strategy is put in place. A number of sub-groups of the climate team are in the course of being established, while the inventory data-users group, chaired by my Department, held its first meeting on 9 May 2001.
