Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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476. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the way in which he plans to respond to the Citizens' Assembly report on climate; and if he will seek to establish a similar committee to the one established in view of the Citizens' Assembly report on the eighth amendment to the Constitution. [18102/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I welcome the submission to the Oireachtas, on 18 April, of the final report of the Citizens' Assembly on how the State can make Ireland a leader in tackling climate change.

The final report includes a total of 17 recommendations which address a range of Government policies and activities across a number of sectors and Ministerial functions. The report reflects the deliberations of the Citizens Assembly over two weekends last Autumn informed, in turn, by a public consultation and by the contribution of a range of expert presentations to the Assembly.

As I have previously indicated, I was pleased to note that many of the recommendations adopted by the members of the Assembly, as reported on during the conclusion of this module of the Assembly’s work, are already being addressed in the National Mitigation Plan and in the implementation of the Energy White Paper, but I have also acknowledged that other recommendations will need further consideration by Government.

It will now be a matter for the Oireachtas, in the first instance, to consider how it will take forward consideration of the Assembly's report. The Government will study the Assembly’s report and recommendations and will provide its response in the context of the agreed mechanism in the Oireachtas for further consideration of the report.