Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for his question. I welcome the publication of the Climate Change Advisory Council's annual sectoral review of the transport sector. I recently met with the council and, separately, with its chair, Marie Donnelly. We had a very constructive discussion. My Department and I will be reviewing this report and its recommendations. I certainly will take them into account as we update our approach to next iteration of the climate action plan later this year, which will be its 26th iteration.

The annual report from the CCAC is a critical input into our policy approach. While there has been an unprecedented level of investment in sustainable transport and electric vehicle, EV, supports over recent years, I fully agree with the council's assessment that we are not yet achieving the pace of change required to achieve our 2030 climate objectives. The report acknowledges that, despite challenges, good progress has been made, particularly in the increased usage and expansion of public transport services, which we debated last week, with broad acknowledgement across the House of progress made. That progress has benefited from the Government's support for reduced public transport fees, which we will further expand later this year by way of free transport for five- to eight-year-olds.

We are confident we will achieve our electric vehicle, EV, targets for 2025, with 177,000 EVs on the road at this point of the year and a continued rebound in EV sales. Public transport passenger numbers are now at record levels, registering more than 1 million journeys daily. Our renewable fuel blending ambitions are on target as well, with a growing number of private sector entities ramping up their use of low-carbon fuels such as hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO, and compressed natural gas, CNG.

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