Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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677. To ask the Minister for Health the recurring weekly meetings attended by either him or the Secretary General of his Department in 2019 at which climate change and or preparations within his Department to enact a climate plan has been an agenda item; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31343/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Climate change has been a meeting agenda item both in discussions I have held with the Department’s Management Board and at the Management Board itself.

My Department officials are currently conducting work in relation both to climate change adaptation and to climate change mitigation.

A joint Department-HSE team has been established which is developing a five-year health sector adaptation plan. The team has consulted widely with relevant stakeholders and will also engage in public consultation shortly on the draft adaptation plan. The plan will be completed by September.

In response to a recommendation of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action in their report “Climate Change: A Cross-Party Consensus Action” (2019), Department officials have recently completed a review of the Health risks of Climate Change and the Health benefits of Climate Action.

Climate mitigation activities are also underway in my Department, notably in relation to reestablishing targets for energy reduction in our new premises at Miesian Plaza, early completion of the decommissioning of Hawkins House, the elimination last year of the use and purchase of bottled water and single-use plastic cups, and other relevant mitigation initiatives.