Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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67. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a discussion in Dáil Éireann on the national mitigation plan will be arranged; and the way in which this plan will help the State meet its commitments under the Paris treaty. [49011/17]

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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468. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will facilitate a Dáil Éireann discussion on the national mitigation plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49098/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 67 and 468 together.

The publication of Ireland’s first statutory National Mitigation Plan in July 2017 was an important initial step to enable Ireland’s transition to a low carbon economy and society. The Plan provides a framework to guide investment decisions by Government in domestic measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sets out what Ireland is currently doing, and is planning to do, to further the national transition objective as set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, 2015. Although this first Plan does not provide a complete roadmap to achieve the national transition objective to 2050, it begins the process of development of medium- to long-term options to ensure that we are well positioned to take the necessary actions in the next and future decades.

The governance and reporting arrangements that underpin the National Mitigation Plan will be critical to successfully delivering on the full range of over 70 measures and 106 related actions in the Plan.

Under section 14 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment is required to present an Annual Transition Statement to each House of the Oireachtas by 10 December each year. The Annual Transition Statement for 2017 will have two main elements.  The "Annual National Transition Statement" will set out an overview of both mitigation and adaptation policy measures adopted; a record of emissions of greenhouse gases set out in the most recent national greenhouse gas emissions inventory and a projection of future greenhouse gas emissions; and a report on compliance by the State with any existing or future obligations under EU law or international agreements referred to in Section 2 of the Act. 

In addition, each sectoral Minister designated under the 2015 Act for the purposes of the National Mitigation Plan (Communications, Climate Action and Environment; Housing, Planning and Local Government; Transport, Tourism and Sport; and Agriculture, Food and the Marine) is required to include an "Annual Sectoral Mitigation Transition Statement."  Each Sectoral Mitigation Transition Statement must set out a record of the sectoral mitigation measures adopted by the Minister of the Government presenting the annual sectoral mitigation transition statement concerned, and an assessment of the effectiveness of the sectoral mitigation measures in the achievement of their purpose.  

Starting in 2018, it is my intention to produce an annual progress report on the implementation of the National Mitigation Plan. This annual progress report will incorporate the key provisions of the Annual Transition Statement and will also record progress in relation to each of the actions set out in the National Mitigation Plan. In order to align the Annual Transition Statement requirements under the 2015 legislation with the National Mitigation Plan annual progress report, I propose to incorporate these into a single document from 2018 onwards. This annual reporting process will facilitate debate on the implementation of the National Mitigation Plan in both Houses of the Oireachtas in each subsequent year.

Ireland will contribute to the Paris Agreement via the Nationally Determined Contribution submitted by the EU on behalf of its Member States, and which commits the EU to a 40% reduction in EU-wide emissions by 2030 compared to 1990. This is based on EU-wide reductions in the emissions trading system (ETS) sector of 43%, and in the non-ETS sector of 30%. Ireland's contribution to this overall EU effort for the non-ETS sector will be set out the EU Effort Sharing Regulation, which is currently under negotiation.