Wednesday, 5 Oct 2022

Written Answers Nos. 1-30

Cabinet Committees

Ceisteanna (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)

Bríd Smith

Ceist:

24. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Environment and Climate Change will next meet. [44839/22]

Mary Lou McDonald

Ceist:

25. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Environment and Climate Change will next meet. [48034/22]

Richard Boyd Barrett

Ceist:

26. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Environment and Climate Change will next meet. [48334/22]

Paul Murphy

Ceist:

27. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Environment and Climate Change will next meet. [48337/22]

Ivana Bacik

Ceist:

28. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Environment and Climate Change will next meet. [48472/22]

Freagraí scríofa

The Taoiseach

I propose to take Questions Nos. 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 together.

The Cabinet Committee on the Environment and Climate Change oversees the implementation of the ambitious Programme for Government commitments in relation to the environment and climate change.

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 sets out Ireland’s key climate change commitments. It sets challenging carbon reduction targets for 2030 and the statutory commitment of achieving a climate neutral economy by 2050.

Following approval of the carbon budget programme by the Houses of the Oireachtas in April, sectoral emission ceilings determining the upper limits of greenhouse gas emissions for all sectors have been agreed by Government, save for the Land Use Sector, which requires further analytical work to be undertaken over the coming 15 months

Agreed policies and measures designed to ensure that sectors quickly and significantly reduce their emissions have been set out in the Climate Action Plan 2021.

The Plan will be further revised this year, to ensure that that the actions it contains are sufficient to meet the reduction targets that have been made explicit through the setting of the carbon budgets and sectoral emissions ceilings.

The next meeting of the Cabinet Committee is scheduled to take place on Thursday 27 October, and it will continue to meet regularly to progress all aspects of the Government’s ambitious climate action and environmental policies.

Question No. 29 resubmitted.

Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence

Ceisteanna (30)

Mick Barry

Ceist:

30. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the high-level oversight board for the zero-tolerance strategy to be jointly led by the Secretary General of his Department. [45763/22]

Freagraí scríofa

The Taoiseach

The Government launched the Third Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Strategy in late June of this year.

The central aim of this Strategy is to bring about zero tolerance towards domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in Irish society as well as the attitudes and assumptions that underpin it.

Another important goal of the strategy is to improve the coordination and delivery of services for those affected by these forms of violence.

Political oversight of the Strategy and its effective implementation will be situated within the Cabinet Committee on Social Affairs and Equality, which I chair.

In addition, a High-Level Oversight Board, chaired by the Secretaries General to the Departments of the Taoiseach and Justice, will be established.

The Board will meet to ensure that actions are being implemented successfully by all relevant organisations and within the specified timelines.

The High-Level Oversight Board is expected to hold its first meeting in the near future.