Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 11, inclusive, together.

Cabinet committee D has met twice, on 12 September 2017 and 23 November 2017. It is scheduled to meet again on 1 February 2018. As I previously indicated, Cabinet committee D was established to cover the areas of housing, climate action, infrastructure investment and delivery, the national planning framework and the ten-year capital plan.

In regard to housing, the Government has announced a number of additional measures following a review of Rebuilding Ireland. A second housing summit was held on Monday, 22 January and a range of new affordability schemes were announced including the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, the affordable purchase scheme, and the affordable rent scheme.

Additional actions previously announced include measures contained in the budget to increase expenditure, taxation changes, and the establishment of Home Building Finance Ireland to provide additional finance to developers. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has also announced further actions in relation to the rental market, and published updated draft guidelines for planning authorities on apartment development, to ensure that the right stock of homes is being built, in the right locations.

Rebuilding Ireland is working but it will take time. In 2017 a total of 25,892 new households had their housing needs met under Rebuilding Ireland, an increase of 36% compared to 2016. That is 100 individuals and families being housed by the State every working day. The latest available housing market data show that residential construction activity is now picking up.

On climate change, Ireland is committed to concerted multilateral action through the Paris Agreement. While the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, and his Department have responsibility for climate change, Ireland’s response to climate change is about broad cross-cutting issues that requires a whole-of-Government response, in addition to engagement with our EU partners.

Ireland’s first national mitigation plan, published in July 2017, sets out the Government's collective approach to reducing Ireland’s own greenhouse gas emissions. It represents the first in a series of roadmaps across all sectors to make progress towards Ireland’s national transition objective. In addition to the national mitigation plan, Ireland's first statutory national adaptation framework was published by the Minister, Deputy Naughten, on 19 January. It specifies the national strategy for the application of adaptation measures in different sectors and by local authorities in order to reduce Ireland’s vulnerability to the negative effects of climate change. Climate Action will also be one of the main themes of the forthcoming ten-year infrastructure plan.

Cabinet committee D is contributing to the development of the national planning framework and new ten-year capital plan. This long-term approach will provide clarity, coherence and certainty in relation to planning and capital expenditure. The ten-year plan will be finalised in tandem with the national planning framework in the coming weeks.

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