Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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321. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide a timeline for the development of his Department's specific climate change targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49572/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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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 sectorial 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 sectorial adaptation plan, it nonetheless remains committed to achieving increases in energy efficiency.

My Department, along with all public sector bodies, is committed to achieving a 33% reduction in energy usage by 31st December, 2020, over a baseline of energy used in 2009 - a target set out in S.I. 426 of 2014. It is therefore fully engaged in the Public Sector Energy Reporting Programme.

By the end of December, 2017, my Department had achieved a reduction of 32.4% in energy use, and is on course to meet the 33% target ahead of the deadline.

As reported by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) a reduction of 43% in greenhouse gas emissions between 2009 and 2017 was recorded for my Department.

My Department will continue to engage with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment , the SEAI and the Optimising Power at Work scheme to continue to achieve reductions in energy use at our offices.