Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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629. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the next steps Ireland will take given the climate change agreement in Paris in France; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46098/15]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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652. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the climate change talks in Paris in France; his plans for a climate change plan in this State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46226/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 629 and 652 together.

The overall outcome of the Paris Conference means that the long-term objective that Ireland has already established in its April 2014 National Policy Position, and that is now underpinned by the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, namely to pursue substantial decarbonisation of the energy, transport and built environment sectors as well as pursuing neutrality in the land sector, will now be undertaken within a broader international context.

This means that the more ambitious actions that will be required over time can be taken on the basis of shared experience and cooperation with other States and regions with the knowledge that all countries will be moving in the same direction, crucial for a small open economy like Ireland’s that competes in globalmarkets.

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 provides a statutory basis for the national objective of transition to a low-carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the year 2050. In doing so, it also provides a solid statutory foundation to the institutional arrangements necessary to enable the State to pursue and achieve that national transition objective.

Among the key provisions of the Act are the preparation and adoption of:

- successive five-yearly National Mitigation Plans which will specify the policy measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland and meet our current and future emission reduction targets; and

- successive five-yearly National Adaptation Frameworks which will set out the national strategy for the coordinated application of adaptation measures in different sectors and by local authorities in order to adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change in Ireland.

The Act also provides for the establishment of a Climate Change Advisory Council to provide advice and recommendations to Ministers and the Government on climate matters. The Advisory Council has already been established on a non-statutory basis under the chairmanship of Professor John Fitzgerald, pending enactment of the legislation, and is already undertaking some preliminary assessments.

The preparation of the National Mitigation Plan is statutorily designed to be a whole-of-Government approach to tackling greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, each Minister with responsibility for the largest emitting sectors (namely, agriculture, transport, energy and the built environment) will be required by Government to develop sectoral mitigation measures for inclusion in the Plan.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 the first National Mitigation Plan must now be produced within 18 months of the enactment date, and I expect that the first National Mitigation Plan will be produced well in advance of this deadline, for completion by the end of 2016.