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

I thank the witnesses for their presentations and contributions so far. I will pick up on a couple of points. The title of this session is "Challenge and Opportunity for Local Authorities in Climate Action". Regarding challenges, I am hearing about staffing issues at local government and CARO levels. What is the extent of workforce planning? There are a number of headline positions, but what number and types of positions need to be filled at local government and CARO level? What difference would filling them make in practical terms?

What has been the experience thus far of drafting county development plans? To what degree are they, or should be, co-ordinated? What oversight is there of them? They contain obligations to meet targets.

What has been the witnesses’ experience of the bottom-up element? This is an emerging field, but can they provide examples of successes? What opportunity has there been to work with PPNs? I have a particular interest in sustainable energy communities, SECs. Do the witnesses see a role for local government in this regard? What community-led and supported vehicle can deliver on climate action? There is some complementarity between PPNs and SECs, but they are separate in many ways.