John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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258. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment for an update on the implementation of the national biomethane strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17523/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Delivery of the Government's target of up to 5.7 TWh of indigenous biomethane by 2030 and its use within our energy system will have multiple cross-sectoral benefits for Ireland’s economy, energy security and emissions profile. As such, development of the industry will require a coherent and collaborative approach to policy implementation across all sectors including energy, agriculture and enterprise.

The Biomethane Implementation Group has been established to oversee implementation of the National Biomethane Strategy and delivery of the 25 key strategic actions to ensure the necessary infrastructure and supports are in place to support development of an indigenous biomethane industry of scale.

Chaired by my Department, with close support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Group reports directly to the Heat and Built Environment Taskforce on on-going progress and is comprised of a number of focused sub-groups namely - Industry, Sustainability, Infrastructure and Economic Issues. The Group meets quarterly, and membership includes key Government Departments and Agencies, and industry representatives.

The Group continues to engage with action owners and key stakeholders to monitor implementation and an end of year progress report on delivery to date is underway. It is expected this progress report will be submitted to the Heat and Built Environment shortly with a view to publishing it on Gov.ie.