Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Section 15(2) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 provides that a relevant Minister may give a direction to a relevant public body requiring it to submit a report specifying the measures it has adopted to have regard to, in the performance of its functions, - the most recent approved national mitigation plan, national adaptation framework, or approved sectorial adaptation plans;

- the furtherance of the national transition objective; and

- the objective of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change in the State.

The references to ‘a relevant body’ in Section 15 of the Act stem from the Freedom of Information Act 2014 and are made to capture the widest range of bodies to which the provisions of this Section may apply.

Section 6 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 ensures that any entity defined as a public body under the original 1997 Act continues to be subject to the FOI regime from when the 2014 Act came into force. Thus Education and Training Boards (ETBs) continue to be subject to the FOI regime under the 2014 Act because they had been subject to it under the 1997 Act. Section 6 (2) (a) of the 2014 Act exempted certain ETB records from the FOI regime where they would enable the compilation of information (not otherwise publically available) on the comparative performance of schools in respect of the academic achievement of students.

Taking into account this qualification under the FOI Acts, I am satisfied that ETBs may be included in the definition of a relevant body under Section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015.