Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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333. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which the public will be informed and engaged on climate action as required under the Aarhus Convention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14527/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Ireland ratified the Aarhus Convention in June 2012 and it entered into force in September 2012. Article 7 of the Aarhus Convention provides for public participation concerning plans, programmes and policies relating to the environment.  This requires that each Party "make appropriate practical and/or other provisions for the public to participate during the preparation of plans and programmes relating to the environment, within a transparent and fair framework, having provided the necessary information to the public.”  Article 7 further requires that the public be provided with opportunities for early public participation when all options are open; that they are provided with reasonable timeframes for participation and that due account is taken of the outcome of the public participation in any decision taken.  The application of Aarhus Convention requirements to public participation in climate action policy development is given expression in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (the 2015 Act). Section 4(8) of that Act requires the Minister to consult on a draft of each national mitigation plan and to have regard to submissions made in response to such consultation. Section 5(3) of the 2015 Act contains equivalent provisions in relation to each draft national adaptation framework.

I held a public consultation on the draft National Mitigation Plan and on the accompanying Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment from 15 March to 26 April 2017. 124 submissions were received in response to this consultation and have been published on my Department's website. The final Strategic Environmental Assessment, published with the National Mitigation Plan in July 2017, addresses how the views of consultees and stakeholders influenced the preparation of the final Plan.

A separate public consultation took place on the draft National Adaptation Framework from 15 September to 27 October 2017. 27 submissions were received from a wide range of stakeholders including academics, political parties, public bodies, business representatives and citizens.

In addition to the respective public consultations, the independent Climate Change Advisory Council, in accordance with the provisions of the 2015 Act, submitted its views to me on the drafts of both the National Mitigation Plan and National Adaptation Framework. These submissions are published on my Department’s website and on the Council's website at www.climatecouncil.ie.

In accordance with section 14 of the 2015 Act I have, to date, presented two Annual Transition Statements, in 2016 and 2017, to the Houses of the Oireachtas. Both Statements are also available on my Department's website. Each Statement provides an overview of climate change mitigation and adaptation policy measures adopted to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and to adapt to the effects of climate change in order to enable the achievement of the national transition objective, a record of emissions of greenhouse gases and projections of future emissions prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency, and a report on compliance with obligations of the State under EU law and relevant international agreements.

In parallel with and in order to inform the on-going development of national policy on climate action, I launched a National Dialogue on Climate Action in 2017. My Department is currently preparing a series of regional and local events under the auspices of the National Dialogue to engage citizens as participants in mobilising action on the low carbon transition at local and community level. I envisage that this will, in turn, help to further inform policy development at local and national levels. I intend to announce details of a pilot regional event shortly.