Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy said, there is a challenge with staffing. Things cannot happen without staffing. On the community climate action officers, the four Dublin local authorities are recruiting their officers on a regional basis. They expect to have staff in place by late April. The post is currently advertised on the Fingal County Council website, on behalf of the four Dublin local authorities, and the closing date for applications is 10 March. I encourage anybody who wants to work in the community climate action sector to apply for the role.

When local authorities have their community climate action officers in place in advance of the launch and have a query about salary costs, they should engage with my Department. There have been questions about this. The Deputy asked whether projects in the food sector and biodiversity are involved. Of course they are. I have worked with organisations like FoodCloud. There is a national food waste prevention programme which aims to reduce our food waste by 50% by 2030. All of those areas are key for us.

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