Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Members for the opportunity to say a few words on this important discussion and debate. I am delighted to be here to address the Seanad as part of the annual transition statement, ATS, process. As Members are aware, the 2017 annual transition statement provides key information on climate change mitigation and adaptation work across the largest emitting sectors for 2016, namely, agriculture, transport, electricity and the built environment, the sector for which I have responsibility. In this regard it forms part of the accountability arrangements vis-à-visOireachtas Members in respect of Ireland's progress in meeting our climate action objectives. To put this issue in context, climate change is one of the biggest global challenges of this century. The scale and complexity of climate change demand a co-ordinated effort and approach at both national and international levels. Ireland is committed to concerted multilateral action to tackle climate change through the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement, as we all know, sets out a long-term goal to put the world on track to limit global warming.

Climate change will have diverse and wide-ranging impacts on Ireland's environment, society and economic and natural resources. Impacts are predicted to include sea level rise; more intense storms and rainfall events; increased likelihood and magnitude of river and coastal flooding; water shortages in summer, particularly in the east of the country; increased risk of new pests and diseases; adverse impacts on water quality; and changes in distribution and the timing of life cycle events of plant and animal species on land and in the oceans. Against this background, strategies must be devised to reduce and manage climate change risks through a combination of mitigation and adaptation responses. This 2017 ATS provides an overview of developments in respect of Ireland's first statutory national mitigation plan and first statutory national adaptation framework and includes an overview of sectoral emissions reduction and adaptation activity for 2016 and, where available, 2017.

The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is the lead Department regarding a number of different measures proposed in the national mitigation plan, which was published in July 2017 by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment in accordance with section 4(8) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015. The measures for which my Department has responsibility relate predominantly to the national planning framework, NPF, and the built environment, as well as social housing.

These measures include action 10 and action 65 and measure T11 of the national planning framework, to ensure climate considerations are fully addressed in the new national planning framework. The publication of the national planning framework consultation draft towards the end of September represented a unique opportunity to set out an ambitious vision and 20-year strategy for what our country should and can look like in 2040. The NPF covers a broad range of issues concerning planning for Ireland's future over the period to 2040. This includes national policy objectives to support climate action and planning, sustainable land management and resource efficiency and renewable energy generation. While public expenditure allocations are a matter for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are working closely together to ensure an effective alignment between the national planning framework, with a view to ensuring that long-term planning objectives shape Ireland's investment and infrastructural development approach into the future. The finalisation of Ireland 2040 as a draft in September was very much driven by the Government's decision to align the rapidly forthcoming ten-year national investment plan with the national planning framework, avoiding past mistakes whereby decisions as to where to spend scarce public capital investment took place before the national spatial strategy was finalised. The joint publication of the finalised NPF with the national investment plan will be a very visible statement of intent by the Government to set out a strategic vision for our country and, moreover, to back it up with the right national investment strategy.

With a national population increase of 1 million by 2040 and 8 million on the island as a whole by then, "business as usual" continuation of sprawl trends and uncoordinated development will not wash; physical and spatial development of Ireland must be much better. As recent events remind us, our climate is changing and we need both to take the immediate steps to adapt to these changes and put in train changes to address the drivers of climate change by decarbonising our way of life and taking advantage of the many opportunities that come from that.

Among a number of strategic goals, the draft framework aims to integrate land use and transport planning policy in a manner that reduces commuter travel demand and supports more efficient travel. Investment in social, educational, health and employment spheres will all have an impact on the development of an integrated, efficient and sustainable transport system. Recognising these interactions and setting a longer-term path will help to deliver more sustainable transport over time.

The principal elements of the strategy behind Ireland 2040 include better strategic planning for our cities, including Dublin as our capital and key international driver; growing Ireland's four other cities significantly; addressing connectivity to and opportunities within Ireland's regions and rural areas; and securing more compact forms of development to reduce sprawl and provide more choice. If we implement the NPF, we will see our country set on a more strategic development path, better prepared to address challenges like competitiveness, quality of life and Brexit. We will see people living and working more closely. Current trends are unsustainable and we all know why. We will see a reversal of rural decline, the promotion of sustainable growth patterns and better distribution of regional growth. We will see imaginative urban regeneration to transform settlements of all sizes and to bring life and jobs back into cities, towns and villages, with less congestion and all the hassles of traffic. We will also see co-ordinated delivery of infrastructure and services in tandem with growth, with a joined-up national planning framework and capital plan and consistent sectoral plans.

The finalisation of the NPF will also be followed through by tasking our three regional assemblies to bring forward complementary regional spatial and economic strategies linking strategic planning and investment at the national level with the physical planning and local economic and community development functions of local authorities. Together, the finalisation of Ireland 2040 with the new national investment plan and the regional spatial and economic strategies, RSESs, will bring about a total overhaul and vertical alignment of Ireland's spatial plans, from the NPF, through the RSESs and down to the local authority city and county development plans, to drive delivery of the framework, in particular compact and co-ordinated urban growth. Consultation has closed on the draft publication and my Department is now reviewing the more than 1,000 submissions it has received in recent months. These include submissions from public agencies and bodies, stakeholders from the infrastructure, environment and education sectors, social and voluntary groups, citizens, regional assemblies, individual councillors and local authorities. We have been trying to engage in public meetings with many of these different groups, and there is time to talk through the written submissions a little more as well. We have also received submissions on behalf of the Houses of the Oireachtas and their committees and we had a chance to discuss this on the floors of both Houses of the Oireachtas and in the committee rooms.

Action 20 aims to finalise the wind energy guidelines. The wind energy development guidelines 2006, issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, sets the national planning policy context for local authority plan-making regarding wind energy and the determination of planning applications and appeals by planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála. A targeted review relating to the noise, setback distance and shadow flicker aspects of the 2006 guidelines, which included a public consultation, commenced in 2013.A Programme for a Partnership Government contained a commitment to conclude the review of the guidelines, with a view to offering a better balance between the concerns of local communities and the need to invest in indigenous energy projects. In this regard, a preferred draft approach to the review of the guidelines has been developed to address a number of key aspects, including sound-noise, visual amenity setback distances, shadow flicker, community obligation, community dividend and grid connections. This was announced in June 2017 by then Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, Deputy Naughten.

As part of the overall review, a strategic environmental assessment, SEA, will be undertaken on the revised guidelines, incorporating the proposed draft approach before they come into effect. This is in accordance with the requirements of EU Directive 2001/24/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment. The strategic environmental assessment, SEA, is a process by which environmental considerations are required to be fully integrated into the preparation of plans and programmes which act as frameworks for development consent, prior to their final adoption, with public consultation as part of that process. It is envisaged that the public consultation as part of the SEA process will be undertaken in early 2018. In the meantime, the current guidelines remain in force. When finalised, the revised guidelines will be issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. Planning authorities and, where applicable, An Bord Pleanála must have regard to guidelines issued under section 28 in the performance of their functions generally under the planning Acts.

On measure BE7, social housing upgrades, local authorities are currently undertaking an ambitious programme of insulation retrofitting, with the support of the Department, of the least energy efficient social homes. Funding of some €107 million has been provided from 2013 to the end of 2016 to improve energy efficiency and comfort levels in 58,000 local authority homes, benefiting those at risk of fuel poverty and making a significant contribution to Ireland's carbon emissions reduction targets and energy reduction targets for 2020. The insulation retrofitting programme is being implemented in a number of phases. Phase 1 commenced in 2013 and is focused on providing attic-roof insulation and the less intrusive cavity wall insulation in all relevant properties while phase 2, which has been piloted in Fingal and Westmeath county councils, will focus on the external fabric upgrade of those social housing units with solid-hollow block wall construction. Based on the most recent information from local authorities, it is estimated that there are some 18,000 and 19,000 social homes requiring phases 1 and 2 works, respectively.

On measures BE10-1 to 10-4, regulations transposing the requirements of the energy performance of buildings directive, EPBD, for nearly zero energy buildings, NZEB, and major renovations, have been introduced. The 2010 energy performance of buildings directive, EPBD, requires member states to ensure that from 31 December 2020 all new buildings meet the NZEB standard, while new buildings owned and occupied by public authorities will be required to achieve this standard two years earlier - 31 December 2018. The Office of Public Works, OPW, is doing great work in this area. The directive defines a nearly zero energy building as a building that has a very high energy performance, where the nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should be covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources, including energy from renewable sources produced on site or nearby. In addition, the EPBD requires that major renovations achieve a cost-optimal performance where technically, economically and functionally feasible. A major renovation occurs where a renovation includes more than 25% of the surface envelope of a building, and in broad terms a cost-optimal performance means that the energy performance should be set with a view to achieving the cost-optimal balance between the investments involved and the energy costs saved throughout the life cycle of the building.

In Ireland, over 40% of the total energy produced is used in the building sector and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, report Energy in Ireland 1990-2015 shows that in Ireland there has been an increase in the energy demand of 18% in the residential building sector and 29% in the commercial building sector. This is why increasing the energy efficiency and reducing the energy demand of buildings is so vital. My Department is currently working on an amendment to Part L of the building regulations and the corresponding technical guidance document, TGD L, which will specify the advanced performance requirements for new dwellings. I intend to publish these documents, together with a regulatory impact analysis, which will include a cost analysis for public consultation early in 2018. It is intended that this will be finalised in 2018 and take effect in early 2019.

In relation to non-residential buildings, a public consultation on Part L was published by my Department in March this year and 50 submissions were received, including 574 individual comments. These comments were fully considered and the final regulations were signed into law last month. This amended regulation and TGD L will, in general, apply to all building works, material alterations, material change of use and major renovations which commence after 1 January 2019. All of the above measures are key actions in the contribution of the built environment to Ireland’s national low-carbon transition and mitigation plan to address climate change and I am confident that they will be implemented and achieve the projected emissions reductions.