Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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24. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the steps he will take to ensure Ireland meets its targets under the Paris agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32045/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Paris Agreement aims to tackle 95% of global emissions through 188 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). Ireland will contribute to the Paris Agreement via the INDC tabled by the EU on behalf of its Member States which commits to 40% reduction in EU-wide emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. The specific details of the contribution to this 40% to be made by each Member State in respect of the non-ETS sector was the subject of a European Commission proposal published on 20 July 2016.  The full implications of this proposal from a domestic perspective are currently being examined.

The extent of the challenge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in line with our EU and international commitments including the Paris Agreement, is well understood by Government, as reflected in the National Policy Position on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development, published in April 2014, and now underpinned by the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 which was enacted in December 2015.  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.  Statutory authority for the plans is set out in the Act.

The overall outcome of the Paris Agreement means that the long-term objective that Ireland has established in the National Policy Position, and underpinned by the Act, namely to pursue substantial decarbonisation of the energy, transport and built environment sectors, as well as pursuing carbon neutrality in the agriculture and 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 co-operation with other States and regions, in the knowledge that all countries will be moving in the same direction, crucial for a small open economy like Ireland's that competes in global markets.

In accordance with Section 4 of the Act, I intend to make a draft of the first statutory National Mitigation Plan available for public consultation by the end of the year followed by submission of a final plan to Government for approval by June 2017.

The ultimate objective of successive five-yearly National Mitigation Plans is to incrementally achieve the low-carbon transition vision, set out in the policy position, by 2050. In that context, the National Mitigation Plan will have regard to Ireland's obligations under the current 2009 Effort Sharing Decision, the Paris Agreement and any likely future EU and international obligations that may arise, including new national targets to be agreed under the 2030 Climate and Energy Package. The first iteration of the National Mitigation Plan, a draft of which will be published for consultation later this year, will place particular focus on tracking implementation of measures already underway, putting in place the necessary measures to address the challenge to 2020 and also on planning ahead to ensure that appropriate policies and measures are in place beyond that.