Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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121. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if Ireland is on course to stay within the legally binding carbon budget 2021-25; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6820/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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While full and final emissions data for 2022 is not yet available, recent reports of provisional data from the EPA have indicated that Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 4.7% in 2021 compared to 2020 and are now 1.1% above 2019 pre-COVID restriction levels. The recently published Climate Action Plan 2023 includes the EPA's latest emissions data, disaggregated for each sector, and illustrates the carbon budget remaining for each sector under the first carbon budget period (2021-2025).

This emissions data provides a strong reminder of the challenges Ireland faces as we seek to meet our ambitious, yet necessary, climate objectives and emissions targets. While the increase in emissions in 2021 was anticipated, as the country emerged from the most severe Covid-19 restrictions, we must now focus relentlessly on how to accelerate the policies, measures and actions that will not only reduce our emissions, but will also support new ways of conducting business and encouraging innovation. To reverse the current trajectory of emissions and meet our 2030 and 2050 targets, a significant shift is required in the speed at which we implement the Climate Action Plan so as to decarbonise our economy and improve our indigenous supply of sustainable and renewable energy.