Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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537. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide a timeline for the development of her Department's specific climate change targets; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49562/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Ireland's first statutory National Adaptation Framework (NAF) was published in January 2018 and sets out the national strategy to reduce the vulnerability of the country to the negative effects of climate change and to avail of any positive impacts.

Under the NAF, a number of Government Departments are required to prepare sectoral adaptation plans in relation to a priority area that they are responsible for and the formalisation of adaptation planning guidelines to assist in the development of these plans is a key action under the NAF. While my Department is not a lead Department in terms of preparing a sectoral  adaptation plan, I am very conscious of  the need for all of us to be aware of climate change and what we can do about it.

My own Department is very active with regard to energy efficiency and is fully engaged in the Public Sector Energy Reporting Programme with a view towards achieving an energy efficient public sector by 2020.

I am happy to note that my Department has improved its energy efficiency performance at the end of 2017 by 47%. I expect my Department's energy efficiency performance to further improve as a result of the move in early 2018 to Miesian Plaza. Miesian Plaza is designed for high energy efficiency and is expected to achieve LEED Platinum accreditation. LEED, (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. 

In the coming years 2019 and 2020 my Department will continue to engage with the Public Sector Energy Reporting Programme.