Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On the environmental fund, we are making a switch with the introduction of a much larger carbon fund, and there is also carbon tax revenue. It is not as if there is a commitment to this environmental area. As the Deputy mentioned, the source funding started to dry up for good reasons.

Some €18 million of the money involved has been moved back to the Vote in order to continue programme delivery. That is not a reduction of services, it is a different structure under which they have been delivered and met.

On the just transition fund, Kieran Mulvey has done a good job, particularly with the local authorities, including Offaly County Council and others. We initiated the first of two rounds of supports for specific social and other enterprise initiatives in the midlands. The process of getting them through the state aid approval process has been slower than I would like but we are there now, or very close to being there. We expect the funding to be released to allow those projects to hit the ground running. There is still work to do on that.

Further funding for just transition, particularly in the midlands, will come from Europe for specific projects. It will have to be matched by State funding but I think we will be able to get that in place. That funding is due to be provided for a seven-year period through the EU process. It is right to use that as a key funding mechanism for some of the just transition projects in the midlands. It is key that the regional assemblies and local authorities will be centrally involved. They were not involved in the initial projects and the way we have approached this because the Department has stepped into the breach to manage the whole approval process but, as a Department, we are inclined to enable policy. Delivering those projects was the right and appropriate thing to do but there is more of a role for the regional assemblies and local authorities, with the help of Department in setting strategic oversight. We want to streamline and simplify the procurement process so it is not complicated for people seeking the funding or for the Department.

There will be wider requirements in the just transition process that will take in some of the expertise and advice that the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, has built up over the years. NESC will have a role in how we apply just transitional thinking to a much wider range of areas. This does not only apply to the midlands. The car industry must have a just transition because we are not going to need the same amount of repair work done when electric vehicles require a fraction of the repair work of their fuel equivalents. We need a just transition in farming, forestry and a range of other areas. Much of that will require a good dialogue and partnership approach. That will be the wider application of the just transition process that I hope we will put in place.

There is a 200-action implementation plan for the reduction of waste. Significant initiatives are already in train, including the move towards the end of smoky fuels. There has been successful implementation of a consultation on the deposit refund scheme which we expect to see progressing in a timely manner. The same applies to the other 200-odd initiatives. It has been very well set up in the sense that, speaking of partnership, the strategy was developed in collaboration with the waste industry, user industries, non-governmental organisations, consumer groups, the Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and others. It is being implemented with most people on board and ready to implement an agreed 200-action plan agenda. I am confident we can show steady progress in that regard.