Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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386. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he can ensure adequate economic growth while at the same time meeting carbon emission requirements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9764/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development, adopted by the previous Government in April 2014, clearly identifies competitiveness as a pillar of the fundamental national objective on transition to a low-carbon economy by 2050. The National Policy Position also sets out a number of key issues for consideration in the on-going evolution of national climate policy, including –

(i) the need to ensure that objectives are achieved at the least cost to the national economy and that any measures adopted to achieve those objectives are cost-effective, and do not impose an unreasonable burden on the Exchequer, and

(ii) the need to take advantage of environmentally sustainable economic opportunities both within and outside the State.

The Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Act 2015 statutorily underpins these and other key economic considerations, to be taken into account in the development of the mitigation and adaptation plans to be adopted by the Government for the purpose of progressing the national transition agenda.