Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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607. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government given the agreement reached in Paris in France to limit global emissions of greenhouse gases, if he is agrees that Ireland's climate policy is now at extreme variance with the stated ambition of the nations who are party to the agreement, in particular that the five year periodic reviews contained in the agreement is contrary to the Government's stated position of there not being a need for interim reviews; if, in the context of the changed situation, he will consider amending the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 to include either domestic emissions reduction targets or more robust emissions reduction plans with mandatory and prescriptive periodic reviews, or both; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45839/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Government’s climate change policy is entirely consistent with the outcome of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, which includes a requirement for Parties to assess, every five years, their progress towards meeting their climate commitments and to submit new plans to strengthen them.

Ireland has already made its commitment to the international process as part of the European Union, which has undertaken to reduce its economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 (compared to 1990).

Furthermore, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015provides for a five-yearly cycle of National Mitigation Plans to specify the mitigation policy measures necessary to manage greenhouse gas emissions and removals at a level commensurate with our international obligations. Accordingly, the Act is ideally calibrated to ensure that domestic policy can be reviewed and, where necessary, amended in a complementary fashion with the five-yearly reviews under the international process, while also taking account of our obligations under the EU processes.

In addition, the Act provides for annual reviews of, inter alia, mitigation policy by the independent Climate Change Advisory Council, which may also conduct periodic reviews of such policy.

I am satisfied therefore, that our recently enacted climate change legislation is fully fit-for-purpose to meet both the domestic and international mitigation and adaptation challenges that lie ahead.