Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I would like to start by acknowledging the incredible work carried out by community groups across Ireland in taking climate action. It is vital that we engage with communities to ensure a just and sustainable transition towards carbon neutrality.

The National Dialogue on Climate Action (NDCA) was established within the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to facilitate public participation in the development of the Climate Action Plan, by engaging people in climate-related dialogue in an annual programme of events.

Social and behavioural science provides vital insights and evidence to support communications and policy. In 2021, the Advisory Group on Social and Behavioural Research for Climate Action, comprised of leading social scientists, was established under my Department to provide a forum for the provision of insights into climate policy.

In 2023, the NDCA programme delivered the Climate Change in the Irish Mindssurvey, the Climate Conversations, the National Youth Assembly on Climate, two National Climate Stakeholder Forum events, a series of deliberative workshops proactively engaging populations vulnerable to the transition to carbon neutrality, and interviews with many of the groups taking climate action who authored the report referred to by the Deputy. Cumulatively, this has provided us with the nationally representative data and deep insights to guide our engagement programme into the future.

In 2024, my Department will, through the NDCA, expand its work to further engage communities across Ireland, to identify how these can be best resourced, and to provide appropriate supports empowering them to deliver climate action on the ground.