Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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144. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of climate action coordinators, community climate officers, and climate action officers hired by each local authority to date, in tabular form. [25846/23]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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145. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide a breakdown of the indicative costs associated with hiring a climate action coordinator, a community climate officer, and a climate action officer, in tabular form. [25847/23]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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146. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide an update on plans to strengthen climate action teams in local authorities; the gaps and challenges which exist to reaching their potential; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25848/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 144, 145 and 146 together.

In order to increase the capacity of Local Authorities to support the preparation of Local Climate Action Plans, my Department allocated €3.5 million in 2022 to assist in securing staffing resources for Climate Action Officer and Climate Action Coordinator roles. The Chief Executive of each Local Authority was issued with a letter in October 2022 informing them of the provision of these resources. By early 2023, approximately €3.3 million had been drawn down by all Local Authorities against this funding stream.

In relation to the Community Climate Action Officers, the Department has an agreement with Local Authorities that a contribution of 12% of the overall €24 million budget for Phase 1 is set aside for administration that can be used towards hiring a Community Climate Action Officer. This means that each Local Authority receives approximately €92,903 for the first phase of the Community Climate Action Programme and the same will be provided for Phase 2.

My Department cannot provide information in relation to hiring costs as these depend on each Local Authority's own recruitment processes.

Please see attached table indicating the recruitment status of the Climate Action Coordinators, Climate Action Officers and Community Climate Action Officers by each Local Authority as of May 2023.

My Department also funds the four Climate Action Regional Offices (CAROs) and the Local Authority Climate Action Training Programme. The training programme supports upskilling and capacity building in the Local Government sector, with a commitment of €1.575 million over the period 2021 to 2023. The CAROs were set up by my Department in 2018 to work with Local Authorities to coordinate, facilitate and monitor implementation of local climate actions, and are assisting in the preparation of the Local Authority Climate Action Plans. They were assigned a budget of €10 million for the period 2018 to 2023.

As is evident from the above, there has been significant strengthening of the climate action teams in Local Authorities. We are receiving feedback from the CARO coordinators that some Local Authorities are struggling to recruit and retain staff for these posts due to a tight labour market and, as a result, there have been some delays in recruiting staff but interview processes are actively underway.

Update - May 2023