Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 350: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the works or measures that have taken place in 2007 to make his Departmental buildings more environmentally friendly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32393/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The buildings occupied by my Department are managed and maintained by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on behalf of the Department. All matters pertaining to the heating and lighting of the Department's buildings are decided upon by the OPW in consultation with the Department. My Department is aware of the need to make the Department's buildings more environmentally friendly and during 2007 the following measures were followed to make the Department's buildings more environmentally friendly: The Department ensures that the OPW, which looks after the replacement of electric light bulbs in the Department's buildings, uses energy efficient bulbs and long life bulbs wherever possible when electric light bulbs are being replaced; The Department ensures that all lighting in the Department's nine buildings is switched off overnight; The Department ensures that the central heating arrangements for the Department's buildings are switched on and off to achieve optimum energy efficiency; The Department exhorts staff to: 1. Switch off all their computer equipment (base units, monitors and peripheral devices) at the end of each working day; 2. Switch off their PC monitors at lunch time and while attending meetings etc; 3. Ensure that the last person leaving each individual office switches off all electric lights, printers, photocopiers and heaters; The Department ensures that recycled paper is available for use in the Department; The Department provides recycling facilities in some of its buildings for newspapers, magazines, and paper generally; The Department ensures that IT equipment including toners, is recycled and makes arrangements to have mobile phones/chargers/batteries also recycled; The Department also provides recycling facilities for plastic bottles/aluminium cans in some of its buildings. The Department purchases cleaning products that are environmentally friendly. My Department will continue to implement measures to make its buildings as environmentally friendly as possible.