Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Several of the actions are for 2019. Most of the actions the Department is leading on are for 2019 or 2020. I have a question on one action in particular. Action 41 aims to promote climate consideration in business operations through the work of the corporate social responsibility stakeholder forum. Is it convened regularly? Is it likely to be convened in the near future? One function of the plan is to encourage businesses to implement resource efficiencies and the Department is leading on that. When these initiatives start to happen is a matter of urgency. IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland fall under the remit of the Department. They are leading on integrating decarbonisation objectives. I am keen to get a sense of what specific actions are being taken to make these happen as quickly as possible.

I am keen to hear a response from the Minister on one point about buildings. If I travel along the quays in Dublin, I see vast numbers of lights on in large commercial buildings. They seem to be left on all night. Many of these are occupied by banks, which are not under the remit of the Department. People who are around there in the winter time can see it. It may be a simple question, but is there some way the Minister or the Government can tell them to turn off their lights?

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