Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to make that statement. In 2021, we saw a step-change in our approach to climate action, with the signing into law of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 and the publication of the national development plan, NDP, and the Climate Action Plan 2021. The significantly strengthened legally binding framework established under the climate Act with clear targets and commitments set in law will help ensure Ireland achieves its national, EU and international climate goals and obligations in the near and long term. This includes our commitment to halving greenhouse emissions by 2030 relative to 2018 levels. Achieving these goals will require changes across all sectors of our society and economy. It will involve collaborative effort by Government, business, communities, and individuals to implement new and ambitious policies. The statutory framework laid out in the climate Act ensures delivery of successive climate action plans, national long-term climate action strategies, and national adaptation frameworks, supported by a system of carbon budgeting and sectoral targets with appropriate oversight by Government, the Oireachtas and the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCAC.

The CRU is a key stakeholder in a number of actions and measures identified in the climate action plan and the supplementary annex of actions published late last year. The commission's role in the protection of the environment, the promotion of renewable, alternative and sustainable energy use, the encouragement of the efficient use and production of electricity and supporting research and development for the generation of renewable and sustainable forms of energy and increasing the efficient use and production of electricity demonstrates its existing key role in supporting Ireland in reaching its climate objectives and emissions reduction targets.

It is a real challenge. What the head of the EPA indicated last week is indeed very possible. We see a particular problem with increasing emissions from Moneypoint power station and the return to pre-Covid traffic levels. These are the big challenges that are the cause of rising emissions but I am confident we can, and will, turn that around. Our plans that are in place will see emissions start to fall. It will take time but we are taking the right approach.

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