I propose to take Questions Nos. 650 and 651 together.
I refer to the reply to Questions Nos. 58, 68, 69 and 77 of 27 June 2017.
The objective of Ireland’s first statutory National Mitigation Plan is to set out what Ireland is doing, and is planning to do, to further the national transition objective as set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, 2015.
The National Mitigation Plan has been prepared having regard to the provisions set out in the 2015 Act in close collaboration with all relevant Government Departments and, in particular, with the Departments of Transport, Tourism and Sport; Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government; and Agriculture, Food and the Marine. As well as being supported by a range of technical, economic and environmental inputs, the National Mitigation Plan has also been informed by the submissions received during a public consultation that took place in March and April 2017.
In addition, I invited the Climate Change Advisory Council, following my publication of the draft National Mitigation Plan, to engage directly with me and with other relevant Government Ministers with a view to providing its recommendations to feed into the preparation of the final Plan. All input received from the Advisory Council has being considered in finalising the National Mitigation Plan.
I am pleased to confirm that the Government has, at its meeting on 27 June 2017, approved the National Mitigation Plan for publication. I am looking forward to publishing the Plan and formally laying it before each House of the Oireachtas very shortly.
In addition to setting out the full range of measures that the Government has already implemented, or is considering, to reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions, the Plan will include over 100 individual actions to be implemented across Government in order to advance the national transition agenda. These actions are the individual building blocks that will enable the Government and wider society to implement deeper reductions in emissions in the years ahead. This will be an ongoing process aimed at incremental and permanent decarbonisation.
The 2015 Act provides that relevant Ministers deliver an Annual Transition Statement to each House. The first such Statement was delivered last December and I intend that the 2017 Statement be delivered shortly following the presentation of Budget 2018. I also intend that the Annual Transition Statement will incorporate an annual progress report on the implementation of the National Mitigation Plan. In this way, each Minister with a role in the National Mitigation Plan will be accountable to the Oireachtas for reporting on progress within their respective sector.
I must continue to point out that the first National Mitigation Plan is a work in progress, reflecting the reality of where we are in our decarbonisation transition having regard to a number of factors including curtailed public and private investment over the course of recent years. The first Plan will not provide a complete roadmap to achieve the national transition objective to 2050, but it will begin the process of development of medium- to long-term options to ensure that we are well positioned to take the necessary actions in the next and future decades. The Plan will become a living document accessible on my Department's website, and will be updated on an on-going basis as analysis, dialogue and technological innovation generate further cost-effective sectoral mitigation options.
