Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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1616. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which reduction targets in respect of carbon emissions continue to be met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34850/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Ireland has an ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction target under the 2009 EU Effort-Sharing Decision (406/2009/EC) for each year between 2013 and 2020.  The extent of the challenge posed by these emission reduction targets is well understood by Government, as reflected in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development and the General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill, both of which were published in April of this year. The National Policy Position provides a high-level policy direction for the adoption and implementation by Government of plans to enable the State to move to a low-carbon economy.  Proposed statutory authority for the plans is set out in the General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill.

  In anticipation of the planned legislation, work is already underway on developing a low-carbon plan - the National Low-Carbon Roadmap to 2050 - the primary objective of which will be to track implementation of measures and identify additional measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and progress the overall national low-carbon transition agenda. As I am satisfied that Ireland is on course to comply with the annual mitigation targets in the first half of the 2013-2020 compliance period, the immediate focus of the national low-carbon roadmapping process will be the compliance challenge in the years 2017 to 2020.