Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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716. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which this country remains compliant with international carbon reduction targets; the programme for the future in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29667/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Ireland is on course to comply with its greenhouse gas emission reduction target for the purposes of the Kyoto Protocol in the commitment period 2008 to 2012. The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol from 2013 to 2020, was agreed in 2012 but has not yet entered into force. Ireland has completed the necessary domestic acceptance procedures in relation to the Doha Amendment and will be in a position to formally accept it in the third quarter of 2015. 2015 will also be a pivotal year in terms of the international response to climate change. Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are working to conclude a new global agreement in Paris in December. Ireland, through the EU, is play ing its part in these negotiations. The October 2014 European Council Conclusions agreed the headline targets for the EU for the period 2021 to 2030 and these form the basis of the EU’s intended nationally-determined contribution (INDC) to the new global agreement, which was submitted to the UN Secretariat on 6 March 2015.

The extent of the challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with our international commitments, is well understood by Government, as reflected in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development, published in April 2014, and in the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill 2015, published in January 2015 and which is currently before the Oireachtas. 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 by 2050. Proposed statutory authority for the plans is set out in the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Bill 2015.

In anticipation of enactment of the planned legislation, work is already underway o n developing a low-carbon plan - the National Mitigation Plan - the primary objective of which will be to track implementation of measures already underway and identify additional measures within the longer term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and progress the overall national low carbon transition agenda to 2050. In continuing my commitment to openness and inclusiveness in the development of national climate policy, I invited the views of the public and stakeholders, on 10 June 2015, on the preparation of the National Mitigation Plan currently being developed. I look forward to receiving input from all interested parties on how we might address the specific challenges ahead and harness the opportunities as Ireland moves towards a low-carbon sustainable economic future.