Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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145. To ask the Taoiseach the progress his Department has achieved in reducing its carbon footprint. [51138/18]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department is committed to lowering its carbon footprint. Energy usage in the Government Buildings complex, including my Department, is administered by the Houses of the Oireachtas and in 2017 showed a 14.1% improvement in energy efficiency. The Department is engaged with the OPW on various projects to achieve more energy efficiencies. This includes a lighting retrofits programme and participation in the OPW Optimising Power @ Work campaign. In addition, the use of single-use plastics has been eliminated and there is increased use of mains-fed water filters instead of bottled water.

My Department is committed to promoting energy efficiency into the culture of the organisation and will continue to work towards further energy efficiency and reducing carbon footprint.