Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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197. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the annual payment by his Department to the climate action fund scheme, as required by virtue Circular 01/2020 (D/PER), broken down by trip, in each of the past five years and to date in 2025, in tabular form. [4963/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Social Protection adheres to Circular 01/2020 which relates to the procedures for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions associated with official air travel.

The Circular provides that the Department, and other relevant bodies, make a payment to the statutory Climate Action Fund related to these emissions for the preceding year.

In this context and to inform the Deputy on the level of payment and the nature of the journeys made on behalf of the Department in the years in question, the tables below outline the applicable rates of payment and a high level return on the journeys made between 2020 to 2023 inclusive.

It should be noted that it is not possible to provide information for 2024 at the current time, as the calculation of the offset rate for 2024 has not yet been made available to the Department from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. It is anticipated that this information will be available by the end of Quarter 1 2025.