Ms Sharon Finegan:

I thank the Deputy for his question about the role of the climate action delivery board in the climate action plan. The board was established in July 2019 at the time of the publication of the climate action plan. The board is jointly chaired by the Secretary General of my Department and the Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

The establishment remit of the board was focused on overseeing the implementation of the climate action plan and the submission of the of the quarterly reports to Cabinet for publication. It also encompassed a commitment to identifying barriers, challenges, and key lessons in the climate plan implementation. The issues that I outlined earlier in my response to Deputy Whitmore are among those that the board has been made aware of through those structures and has discussed.

In terms of the role of our own unit, as I mentioned previously, the establishment of a unit within the Department of the Taoiseach looking specifically at climate has been a significant new departure. There are five of us in total working, and there is a very keen and clear focus from the centre on the need to drive implementation in relation to climate action. I see that in this Bill, the commitment to continue having a climate action plan produced on an annual basis will mean that so long as it remains Government policy, the Department of the Taoiseach will continue to have responsibility for driving implementation of the plan and that is how I see our role. I welcome the comments on Comhairle na nÓg. Certainly-----