Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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335. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on whether there should be a statutory requirement to have experts at the decision-making table at national, regional and local level to ensure Ireland meets its obligations under the Paris Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14531/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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National climate policy development is supported by robust arrangements for the provision of scientific and technical advice which, in turn, supports policy implementation at national, regional and local levelsThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the competent authority in Ireland for the preparation and annual publication of official inventories and projections of greenhouse gas emissions and for reporting this data to the European Union and to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Oireachtas receives a summary of the most recent inventory and projections prepared by the EPA each year in the Annual Transition Statement, which is mandated by the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (the 2015 Act). The most recent such statement was laid before the Houses on 8 December last.

The EPA also provides a range of expert scientific and technical advice on climate change to the Government and produces, in accordance with its statutory mandate, a quadrennial State of the Environment Report which provides an integrated assessment of the overall quality of Ireland's environment, the pressures being placed on it and the societal responses to current and emerging environmental issues. The last such report was published in 2016, includes a specific focus on climate change, and is available from the EPA’s website at:

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The Climate Change Advisory Council, an independent body established under Section 8 of the 2015 Act, is mandated to provide advice and recommendations to me, to relevant sectorial Ministers and to the Government in relation to the development and implementation of the National Mitigation Plan and National Adaptation Framework. The Council is also tasked with advising on matters relating to the achievement of Ireland’s objective to transition to a low carbon, climate resilient and sustainable economy by 2050. Since November 2016, the Advisory Council has produced three reports which are available from the Council’s website at www.climatecouncil.ie.

Technical capacity for climate action policy development and implementation is provided through the Technical Research and Modelling Group (TRAM), which was established by Government Decision in 2015 and is chaired by my Department. TRAM is a high level cross-departmental technical group, with representation from relevant Government Departments and Agencies, supported by a number of academic institutions. TRAM reports to the Climate Action High Level Steering Group, and to the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure as required.