Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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1273. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the specific measures taken in his Departmental offices and operations in reducing energy usage and to assist in Ireland meeting our climate targets for 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23326/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is committed to meeting its obligations under the Climate Action Plan and Public Sector Climate Action Mandate. Central to this is the development of my Department’s annual Climate Action Roadmap, available on the Department's website at www.gov.ie/en/department-of-rural-and-community-development/collections/drcd-climate-action-roadmap/.

The Roadmap provides a framework through which my Department seeks to meet its target of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 51% by 2030 and to improve energy efficiency beyond the 33% target in 2020 to 50% by 2030.

My Department is making considerable progress with reducing electricity and gas consumption. Overall energy consumption in our Dublin headquarters was down 33% in 2024 compared to the benchmark year of 2019, following careful management of both electricity and gas consumption throughout the period.

Other actions which will assist Ireland meeting energy targets include the appropriate use of green procurement by my Department. In 2023, my Department entered into eight contracts incorporating green public procurement measures.

Finally, my Department has programme/scheme criteria that encourage the use of cleaner energy. For example, the CLÁR (Ceantair Laga Árd-Riachtanais) programme which supports small scale infrastructure investment has allocated some €506,000 to acquire electric or hybrid vehicles benefitting organisations nationwide.