Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he has taken in relation to the commitment contained in the Programme for Government to establish a high level Commission on Climate Change to oversee implementation of the Climate Change Strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15967/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I have indicated previously that the potential for further added value from the establishment of a Commission on Climate Change was being considered. I have also outlined the various structures that have been put in place since publication of the National Climate Change Strategy in April 2007, including the Cabinet Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, and it is important to note the role of the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security in developing cross-party consensus both on targets and on the measures required to achieve them.

In the context of the third Carbon Budget which I presented in December 2009, I published a framework for the Climate Change Bill 2010 which contains a commitment to establish a new Climate Change Committee. The framework document makes it clear that I envisage this statutory body to have a wide-ranging advisory and supporting role in relation to the overall national policy response to climate change. Also, as indicated in the framework document, the Bill will provide a statutory basis for both the National Climate Change Strategy and the planned National Adaptation Strategy.

Work on drafting the Heads of the Bill is at an advanced stage and I expect, following Government consideration, to be in a position to publish them shortly.