Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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12. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the full-year cost to employ a FTE climate action officer employed in a local authority, by year in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025. [28264/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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13. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the cost to employ climate action officers in local authorities in each of the years 2020 and 2025 to date in tabular form broken down by local authority and the total cost overall. [28272/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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36. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the cost to double funding available for climate action officers in local authority, by year in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025. [28168/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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37. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the full year cost to employ a FTE climate action officer employed in a local authority by year in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025. [28169/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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38. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the cost to employ climate action officers in local authorities by year in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025. [28170/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 13, 36, 37 and 38 together.

Local authorities are at the forefront of local Climate Planning and Action in Ireland, making the national climate goals and policies work at a local level to assist in the delivery of the national climate objective.

A Business Case submitted by the CCMA to DECC in 2022 to support the Local Authority Climate Action Plans (LA CAPs) set out an annual cost per Climate Action Officer role of €88,644 (a combined annual figure of €2,747,964 for all 31 local authorities).

The table below provides a breakdown by each local authority of the total funding claimed in 2023 and 2024 for the Climate Action Officer. This does not include data for 2020 or 2021 as the resourcing of Climate Action Officers to support LA CAPs commenced in 2022. In 2022, a total of €3.2 million was paid to all local authorities to begin Phase 1 of the LA CAPs.

The Department has signed a five-year Service Level Agreement with all local authorities for Phase 3 of the LA CAPs (1st November 2023 - 31st December 2028). There is an approved annual total budget of €2,747,964 for all local authorities for the Climate Action Officer roles.

Data for 2025 for Climate Action Officers is currently unavailable as local authorities make their claim for reimbursement to DECC in Q4 as part of their annual claims process.

Doubling the allocation for Climate Action Officers would cost a total €177,288 per local authority (€5,495,928 for all 31 local authorities).

The Department is working closely with local authorities to ensure their important work on climate action is adequately resourced into the future. This engagement is carried out at various levels through key areas such as supporting the Climate Action Regional Offices (CAROs), LA CAPS, EU Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission and Decarbonizing Zones.