Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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449. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will outline Ireland's position in the negotiations being conducted at the Warsaw climate change conference; if he is concerned by the recent decisions of the governments of Australia, Japan and Canada to downgrade their efforts to combat climate change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50290/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The fundamental objective of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as set out in Article 2, presents challenges for all Parties. A feature of the ongoing negotiations under the Convention is the clear focus on achieving progress at each Conference of the Parties, notwithstanding unexpected issues that can arise from time to time. After a difficult round of negotiations at this year’s conference in Warsaw, I agree with the EU position that important progress was made, including on a timeline or work plan for the two- year period leading up to the 21st Conference in Paris in December 2015, and agreement by all Parties to bring forward proposed commitments on greenhouse gas mitigation in the post-2020 period well in advance of the Paris conference. In the negotiations at the Warsaw conference, Ireland followed its established position of supporting progressive EU engagement and leadership under both the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol.