Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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132. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware of annual review recently published by the Climate Change Advisory Council (details supplied) that Ireland is not sufficiently resilient to extreme weather events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60262/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the recent report of the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) regarding Ireland’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The CCAC reviewed Ireland’s progress on Climate Adaptation measures for the year from April 2024 to March 2025 and noted that while progress had been made under the 2024 National Adaptation Framework, there was room for improvement.

My Department, in collaboration with 7 other Departments, has been working to finalise a new suite of Sectoral Adaptation Plans (SAPs) across 13 key sectors that, in addition to addressing the cascading impacts of extreme weather events such as those experienced with the impacts of Storms Darragh and Éowyn, will build resilience to the long-term impacts of climate change.

Measurable actions will improve the resilience of these key sectors over the next five years. The new SAPs are informed by the EPA’s publication of Ireland’s first National Climate Change Risk Assessment earlier this year and by standardised climate data delivered by Met Éireann. Each Minister will be responsible for delivery of the actions under their remit. I will bring this new iteration of SAPs to Government shortly. A new Adaptation Taskforce chaired by my Department will address cross-cutting adaptation issues in a holistic way.

The CCAC also made recommendations regarding local authority Climate Action. My Department is working closely with local authorities to ensure their work on climate action continues to be supported and resourced. Engagement is carried out through key areas such as funding the Climate Action Regional Offices (CAROs), the Local Authority Climate Action Training Programme, and providing a support role to the EU Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission and Decarbonising Zones (DZs).