Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a plan to address our climate challenge. Separate work is being done on biodiversity. There are elements here where the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Minister, Deputy Madigan's Department, has made significant contributions directly connected to improving the carbon sequestration of wetlands or so on. This document does not purport to be everything that needs to be done in the environment. We do not deal with biodiversity. Likewise, it does not purport to be everything that needs to be done in energy. We have not dealt with energy security, for example. What we are trying to do is to meet particular challenges. It is not substituting for the line responsibility that continues for many elements of environmental improvement or risk abatement.

As I said, the NESC, with its experience and social partnership make-up, is very well placed, given the sort of work it has done in the past, to advise the implementation board but it will be the implementation board, on which the Taoiseach and my own Department will be represented, that will devise the annual strategies and actions that emerge from that thinking. A just transition is at the heart of this and will be a responsibility of that core implementation board.

The response to the closure in the midlands has been strong. Board na Móna has demonstrated that a State company has been pioneering in identifying new opportunities as it moves away from being virtually an entirely fossil fuel company to developing renewables, resources, material management and alternatives. That is exemplary. As I said, the midlands regional enterprise strategy, which I established a number of years ago, has been in place to take up the challenge of developing an effective strategy to move the midlands into developing opportunities in the decarbonisation sector. That structure which we put in place is taking up that challenge. It is the number one of its priorities.