Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I am glad to have the opportunity to raise this issue which is exercising the minds of many people in the environmental community. I am glad to see the Minister is here and I thank him for attending in person.

I am using this opportunity as a chance for discussion. As a former Minister, I have a high regard for the Department and feel that getting the proper name for it is important. Discussion on this issue will be framed by comments made by the Taoiseach earlier today. He said we could get obsessed by words, but it is actions we need to account for. However, we should also be aware of what people in the environmental community are saying, that there is not a government in western Europe or the western developed world that does not have an environment Ministry. This says something to us. While we need action more than words, perhaps getting the words right at the start would help the Minister in terms of the actions he must take.

The Minister may have some freedom in regard to a name, as according to what the Taoiseach said today, the name for the Department has not been finally decided so there is still room to manoeuvre. I suggest therefore that the Minister should consider as a title for the Department, the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Communications. I will outline why this makes sense.

It is important we keep communications, energy and the core of the Department together. There is a real strategic interest in this regard and I am glad the Government has not changed that. There is a real strategic interest in having the digital technology revolution industry in the same location as where we will have the regulation of the clean energy revolution and the efficiency revolution that needs to take place. The two are similar in a variety of ways. Huge investment and innovation is taking place. The areas are similarly regulated and there is a mixture of both State and market interest. Therefore, it makes sense.

That is and should be the core of the Department. Indeed, it should be the core of economic development for any Government because that is where the opportunities and the jobs are as well as the solutions to climate change and the other environmental problems we face. It is important that we keep communications within the Department and that we see that as a natural synergy which will regulate the Internet revolution that is taking place as well as the clean energy revolution.

It is good for us to cite climate change in the title to indicate that we will lead on this issue. We are not doing that at present, so it is a statement of intent that we will lift the level of effort, ambition and action on the climate change issue and in our energy portfolio. The Minister has a key position. I used to joke with a former colleague, the then Minister for the Environment, by asking him to step aside because it was time for the professionals to get involved and for energy Ministers to provide the solution. This was true at the time but energy in response to climate change defines everything now. People talk about trialoguing whereby we had to get the three-way system of security, competitiveness and environment right but climate change trumps everything now and comes first in energy policy. One can get competitiveness and security in a variety of ways but we now must apply laws of physics in the energy sphere, so the energy portfolio is now the climate change portfolio.

Why would we put the word "environment" here? It is difficult because environment has been split in three ways. Some has gone to the Department headed up by Deputy Heather Humphreys. In the days of Phil Hogan, he had the natural heritage side of the portfolio and, in his time, Deputy Simon Coveney had responsibility for water and other environmental services. With the movement of climate change across to this Department and the management of waste, air quality and the EPA, this is also the home of environment.

The reason I suggest the Minister takes this title is to grab the power and grow the Department, to strengthen it and empower it within Government. By giving it the title, the Minister is saying to Deputy Simon Coveney that he has to follow and that planning, development and housing have to fit into the big environmental picture of what we are doing in respect of the climate. It recognises that the ability to solve climate change issues and to tackle our environmental problems come from our communications and energy industries. The Minister putting his Department as the lead Department for the environment strengthens his case in Cabinet and strengthens what we need to do across agencies in the State, in the public service and elsewhere.

It is not guaranteed to work. In the UK, the creation of a climate change and energy ministry has not effectively taken any power back from the Treasury and there are other examples in other countries. However, for our country, I advocate the Minister bringing back the word "environment" into the title and combining it with climate change and communications. This would make a good fit for the Department he is now lucky to lead.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Ryan for raising this issue and affording me the opportunity to clarify to the House. As he is aware, a range of functions currently undertaken by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government will transfer into this Department in the coming weeks. The Department will be renamed the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the transfer of functions is completed.

I agree with everything Deputy Ryan said apart from the fact that he said every developed country had a Department of the Environment. That it is not true, as Hungary does not have a Department of the Environment. It is something I have been looking into and I believe it is very important that "environment" is in the title of the new Department.

Following the Taoiseach's announcement, in addition to the current functions, my Department will also assume responsibility for the following sections from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government: environment policy and awareness; climate policy section; EU and international environmental policy; waste policy and resource efficiency; and the air quality and environmental radiation policy environment advisory unit. There are clear synergies between the existing energy responsibilities and those of the functions which are due to transfer from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. It was a great honour to receive my seal of office as the first Minister in the history of the State to have overall responsibility and the title for action on climate.

The Government, in both its climate policy in the programme for partnership Government and the recent White Paper on energy, has committed to transitioning to a low carbon economy by 2050. In December, we had the Paris Agreement, which has recently been ratified and cements the EU's contribution to the international effort to address climate change. Central to this is the decarbonisation of the entire energy system, covering electricity, heat and transport.

The transfer of the environment function into a reconstituted Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment allows the synergies between climate and sustainable energy policy to be fully realised. It brings a coherence across the various policy areas involved and will ensure that Ireland addresses the challenges in ways that are technically feasible, cost effective and fair in terms of Ireland's contribution to the overall EU ambition. As part of the transfer of the environment functions, air quality policy is also moving, which affords the opportunity to fully integrate energy decarbonisation with the attendant air quality implications. This will ensure no inadvertent adverse impacts from the decarbonisation efforts.

In relation to the communications element of the portfolio, my Department will continue with the procurement process for the national broadband plan. I am in discussions with the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, on the detailed arrangements to give effect to commitments in the programme for a partnership Government regarding her Department's role in relation to the roll-out phase of the national broadband plan. That role will include leading on the establishment of county or regional broadband task forces and working with local authorities, local enterprise offices, Leader groups and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract or contracts has been awarded. The Department headed up by Deputy Heather Humphreys will also assume responsibility for the post office network.

In essence, the key aim of Government in amalgamating the environment functions currently undertaken by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government with the energy portfolio of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is to put in place the best structures and arrangements to enable us to transition to a low carbon economy and meet our international obligations on climate change. The Department will continue to strive to protect Ireland's energy supply, generation, security, affordability and sustainability and to ensure that Ireland complies with international energy and climate change policies.