Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We will present our transition statement to the House on Thursday and to the Seanad tomorrow. I hope to publish the draft mitigation plan within the next couple of weeks, following Cabinet approval. That will set out a draft of the actions to be taken by the Department. I look forward to Deputy Paul Murphy's input to that.

He is right: this is the single biggest challenge we all have. The big focus will need to be on not only 2050 and the need to reduce carbon with effectively a zero-carbon economy by then, but we also have bigger challenges in the short term regarding things such as black carbon, HFCs, hydrofluorocarbons and methane. There are a number of aspects to that. Not just in the area of agriculture and black carbon, but diesel engines are a particular problem for us. These are complex issues that the mitigation plan will address.

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