Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)
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222. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the way in which he plans to address the €3.3 billion environmental investment gap identified in the latest European Commission Environmental Implementation Review country report for Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39453/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland welcomes the Commission’s 2025 Environmental Implementation Review for Ireland which sets out Ireland’s implementation of existing EU environmental policy and legislation. While the report identifies areas in which the pace and scale of implementation needs to increase, it also acknowledges very significant achievements across a range of environment policy areas in Ireland in recent years, including, for example, circular economy and waste, decarbonisation, protection of biodiversity, marine planning and environment, air quality and water.

It should also be noted that the report states that Ireland is a front-runner on green budgeting, having started tracking climate-related expenditure in 2019. Furthermore, to help Member States to develop national green budgeting and thereby improve policy coherence and support the green transition, the Commission facilitated a technical support instrument (TSI) project on green budgeting from 2021 to 2024. Ireland participated, providing expertise and further improving its green budgeting methodology. Ireland has also been selected for the next round of TSI projects on green budgeting, starting in 2025, where the country will expand peer-to-peer learning through civil servants’ exchanges.

Whilst I do appreciate that implementation challenges exist due to the scale and complexity of environmental reforms, Ireland continues to prioritise delivery in full partnership with EU institutions and welcomes the report’s list of Priority Actions to further improve implementation.

The policy areas listed above as well as the range of commitments in the Programme for Government demonstrate Ireland’s continued determination to meet its EU obligations. Discussions in relation to the review of the National Development Plan are ongoing and will result in significant investment in environmental and climate-related initiatives in the years to come.