Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Will the carbon budgets be published by COP26? What is their relationship with the climate action plan and when might the Dáil see and be able to debate them? Will they include sectoral ceilings and a roadmap?

Regarding the EU's Fit for 55 package and the national versus regional in a European sense as opposed to internationally, what is the Minister's sense of the direction of travel? The committee has had some discussions on Fit for 55, which contains a significant suite of proposals with potentially serious implications for Ireland, not least in terms of how we generate the carbon tax, where it goes and what is levied at a European level. Does the Minister envisage a trend towards increasing co-operation at that level and increasing European influence arising from the COP26 discussions?

Many innovation funds have been indicated as priority areas of focus at COP26. How does the Minister intend to position Ireland as a leader on this? In many respects, we are laggards because we have not grasped the opportunity, be it onshore or offshore wind energy technology or hydrogen. We do not have a hydrogen strategy while other countries do. Is that something that will be a priority for us at COP26?