Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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370. To ask the Minister for Finance for an update on the expansion of his Department’s green building methodology from a tax perspective to include all six EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities based on the EU Green Budgeting Reference Framework and the OECD Green Budgeting Framework, as committed to in the Climate Action Plan 2025 and due in Q4 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55494/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I understand the Deputy is asking about the Green Budgeting methodology. My Department conducts green budgeting as part of the annual Budget process, as traditional measures of economic performance do not fully capture the specific impacts of climate and environmental policies on the public finances.

Green budgeting is the process of documenting the impact of budgetary measures and wider fiscal policy. One objective is to make public spending on sustainable and climate-related measures more transparent. Raising awareness and understanding of the environmental impact of budgetary policy can help promote policy changes that produce more sustainable outcomes.

In Budget 2022 (in October 2021), my Department first published a review of green budgeting from a tax perspective available . Building on this, earlier this year my Department published an update to the methodology available . This March 2025 publication establishes a green budgeting framework that takes into account the six European Union (EU) taxonomy environmental objectives and applies this to existing tax measures and recent budgetary changes. The development of this methodology was guided by the European Commission and by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Paris Collaborative green budgeting framework. Aligning Ireland’s national green budgeting assessment with these good practices is forward-looking and allows for comparison internationally with a view to improving this methodology in future.

As part of Budget 2026, my Department this week published the most recent green budgeting analysis update, in the Beyond GDP Quality of Life Assessment Report available . Green Budgeting analysis undertaken as part of Budget 2026 examines the tax system over the decade and takes into consideration all six EU Taxonomy Objectives for Sustainable Activities as committed to in the Climate Action Plan 2025. The Department of Finance’s publications on green budgeting can be found on the Department’s website available www.gov.ie/en/department-of-finance/publications/green-budgeting-climate-fiscal-analysis/.