Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that but to clarify, we contacted the Deputy's office to leave a message that I would take the matter. We said that if she wanted to make a change with the Ceann Comhairle, that would be fine by us. I will read the statement and then perhaps discuss the other matters Deputy Burton has raised. By the way, I was not at the launch.

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. Yesterday, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment and other members of the Government launched the climate action priority element of Project Ireland 2040. The funding commitments in the national development plan will see a major step change in the funding available for climate action over the next decade. Almost €22 billion is to be directed to addressing the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient society through a combination of Exchequer and semi-State investments. The national development plan also allocated a further €8.6 billion for investments in sustainable mobility. This means that well over €1 in €5 spent under the national development plan will be on climate action. This capital investment will enable us to deliver a significant reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions over the period to 2030.

Building on the existing measures to reduce our emissions set out in the national mitigation plan published last July, key investment priorities in the national development plan for climate action include transitioning Moneypoint away from coal by the middle of the next decade; energy efficiency upgrades of 45,000 homes per year from 2021; support for a major roll-out of heat pump technologies; delivering energy upgrades to BER "B" level to all public buildings and a minimum of one third of commercial buildings; implementing the new renewable electricity support scheme to deliver an additional 3,000 MW to 4,500 MW of renewable energy with an initial focus on shovel-ready projects, which could contribute to our 2020 targets; roll-out of the support scheme for renewable heat and national smart metering; at least 500,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030 with additional charging infrastructure to cater for planned growth and a €5 million climate action fund, which the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment announced last month, to leverage investment by public and private bodies in climate action measures.

The Government recognises that expenditure alone is neither affordable nor sufficient to meet the scale of the climate challenge ahead and that we need a targeted balance between Government and private expenditure, taxation, regulation and behavioural change. New regulatory commitments in the national development plan include a commitment to no new non-zero emission cars to be sold in Ireland post 2030, with no NCT certificates to be issued for non-zero emission cars post 2045. This is one of the most ambitious commitments on zero emissions on passenger vehicles in the EU. There is a further commitment to a transition to a low emission urban bus fleet, including electric buses, with no diesel-only buses purchased from 1 July 2019. Further consideration will be given to climate-focused taxation measures in the context of budget 2019.

The Government is a strong supporter of the Paris Agreement and its objectives. Ireland is also committed to the EU commitment under the Paris Agreement to achieve at least a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 1990 levels relative to 2030.

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