Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 July 2019
250. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the recurring weekly meetings attended by either him or the Secretary General of his Department in 2019 at which climate change and or preparations within his Department to enact a climate plan has been an agenda item; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31346/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department and I are committed to making a strong contribution to the collective efforts that we all need to make in respect of climate action. For this reason, latest developments in respect of climate action are regularly discussed at the Department’s weekly Management Board meetings. I attend these meetings once a quarter and the matter also features then.
Other opportunities are also taken to have more in-depth discussion on climate change and climate action – for example, this has featured as a topic at both the Management Board Policy Forum and at last year's DPER Annual Management Conference, when there was a dedicated session on Climate Change with two external expert speakers and 120 staff.
Like other Departments, my Department is also playing a role in relation to specific Government initiatives in this area - for example, in respect of energy performance and also the recent development of a Resource Efficiency Action Plan. My Department is hosting a workshop in September to outline to Energy Performance Officers in the bodies under the aegis of my Department good practice examples in managing the achievement of energy efficiency targets under the Public Sector Energy Efficiency Strategy.
More generally, I have attended Cabinet Committee meetings where Climate Action was on the agenda on the following dates: 31 January 2019, 27 May 2019 and 1 February 2018. Finally, the Deputy may wish to note that my Department has a climate change unit who input into the inter-Departmental climate structures and ensure that I am briefed on climate developments.
