Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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587. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the local authority decarbonisation zones; and the list of zones selected. [30814/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland’s Climate Action Plan sets out an ambitious whole-of-society approach designed to enable Ireland to meet its EU targets of reducing carbon emissions by 51% between 2021 and 2030, and thereafter to achieve a climate neutral economy by 2050. Action 165 of the Plan sets local authorities the challenge of identifying and developing Decarbonising Zones in each local authority in Ireland and implementation of this action is being led by my Department, in close cooperation with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications together with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the local authorities supported by the Climate Action Regional Offices.

My Department issued a circular to local authorities on 10 February 2021 asking each local authority to identify a decarbonising zone and to provide a broad outline of the main projects that could be implementable in the decarbonising zone plus an indication as to the potential outcomes deliverable in terms of reductions in carbon emissions. Each local authority will then be tasked with developing implementation plans for their decarbonisation zones.

At this point, 27 local authorities have submitted their proposals and it is anticipated that the remaining proposals will be submitted in the coming weeks. My Department is currently examining the proposals and it is intended to publish them when all have been submitted. My officials will also engage with the sector to ensure that the proposals will provide a good range of scalable and replicable learning opportunities that will enable the sector, in the longer term, to address local low carbon energy, greenhouse gas emissions and climate needs in order to contribute to national climate action targets.

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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588. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the upcoming fourth anniversary of the authorship of the report A Review Into Certain Planning Matters in Respect of Donegal County Council by a person (details supplied) will be published. [30824/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I am considering the report, entitled 'A Review Into Certain Planning Matters in Respect of Donegal County Council', by Mr. Rory Mulcahy S.C., and will bring this matter to Government for consideration in due course.

In this regard, the decisions of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (CEI/18/0019) of 13 February 2019 and the Information Commissioner (OIC-59426-Q8D7T8) of 27 February 2020 in relation to requests to publish this report will also be taken into account. Both decisions are publicly available on those bodies' websites.