Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the measures which will be promoted during the Irish Presidency of the European Union to promote policies to keep the EU towards meeting its declared carbon reduction targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8591/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I refer to the reply to Question No. 174 of 5 February 2013.

Under the Climate and Energy Package, adopted by the European Council in December 2008, the main elements of policy and legislation are already in place to enable the EU to meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2020. However, two legislative proposals in relation to CO2 emissions from cars and vans need to be concluded in order to underpin the achievement of 2020 targets in those areas and I am prioritising the securing of First Reading Agreements with the European Parliament on these dossiers by the end of our Presidency. The Irish Presidency will also be giving significant attention to a proposed Regulation on Fluorinated Gases, covering a range of gases with very significant global warming potential, with a view to preparing a Progress Report to be passed to the Lithuanian Presidency on 1 July.

It is also essential that priority attention is given to the policies necessary to progress the decarbonisation agenda post-2020. In that regard, I have proposed the immediate post-2020 period as the subject for discussion at an informal joint meeting of the EU Environment and Energy Councils in Dublin in April.