Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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318. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the progress her Department has achieved in reducing its carbon footprint; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51127/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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As I advised the house in my reply to Parliamentary Question Number 240 of 15th November last my Department is a participant of the Public Sector Energy Reporting Programme and provides energy consumption data to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) which manages the reporting process on behalf of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.  

The management of properties occupied by staff of my Department and the bodies under its aegis is primarily a matter for the Office of Public Works.  As a consequence, an energy management company has been engaged by OPW to liaise with officials in my Department for the purposes of identifying better building energy management systems.  This also includes consideration of proposals for building and facility upgrades, disseminating information to effect behavioural changes and other measures which contribute to improvement in overall energy efficiently performance  levels. 

In the SEAI's latest annual report published in 2017, the Department and its agencies recorded  28% energy savings as against baseline levels recorded in 2009, which represents significant progress towards the 33% savings target for 2020.

The Deputy may also wish to refer to my reply to Parliamentary Question Number 640 of 27th November which outlines the ongoing work of my Department in relation Peatland restoration and the development of a Biodiversity Sectoral Climate Change Adaptation Plan as required under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act (2015).