Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the 2024 climate action plan progress report published by his Department on 3 September 2024. [37661/24]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the 2024 climate action plan progress report published by his Department on 3 September 2024. [41448/24]

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on the environment and climate action will meet next. [41638/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the 2024 climate action plan progress report published by his Department on 3 September 2024. [42882/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the 2024 climate action plan progress report published by his Department on 3 September 2024. [42884/24]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 6, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on the environment and climate action oversees implementation of the ambitious programme for Government commitments in environment and climate change, including the implementation of the climate action plan. The committee has met on 22 occasions since July 2020, most recently on 10 June.

The Department of the Taoiseach prepares progress reports on the delivery of measures committed to under the climate action plan. The latest progress report for the 2024 climate action plan, CAP24, was published on 3 September. It provides detail on actions that were due to be completed in quarter 1 and quarter 2 of this year, along with progress on delayed high impact actions from the climate action plan 2023.

This latest progress report shows that 20 of the 33 actions set out for the first half of the year were completed by the end of quarter 2. Actions reported as delayed will continue to be pursued and will be reported on in the upcoming quarter 3 progress report. Examples of high impact actions completed and detailed in the progress report for the first and second quarters include publishing the national biomethane strategy, publishing the high-powered EV charging strategy, developing the strategic rail review implementation plan, reducing the minimum number of large fossil-fuel electricity generators, delivering low-cost finance options for home retrofit, publishing a decarbonisation roadmap for industrial heat, establishing the national agricultural soil carbon observatory, updating the shadow price of carbon, publishing a new green public procurement strategy, adopting 31 local authority climate action plans, and finalising a new national adaptation framework. The quarter 3 progress report is currently being compiled and will be published following consideration by the Government.

While much progress has been achieved, we know we need to increase efforts and up our pace on climate action delivery. The challenge before us is profound. We need to continue to respond resolutely and practically to the climate threat before us, working together to achieve the best possible outcomes for current and future generations.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Before we continue, I welcome to the Gallery Coachford Active Retirement who are here today. Muintir ó Achadh Bolg, Ré Alain agus Áth an Chóiste atá tagtha chuig an Dáil inniu chun bualadh leis na Teachtaí agus proceedings a fheiceáil. Tá fáilte rompu.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I made an oversight in my last interaction with the Taoiseach. While dealing with the UN, I should have also have raised the case of Private Seán Rooney. We have seen what is in the public domain. The family is concerned and frustrated with the lack of communication from the UN following requests from the coroner. This is something that needs to be addressed.

I have spoken to the Taoiseach before about Carlinn Hall in Dundalk and I have also raised it with the Minister. Whoever is in government really needs to look at the support scheme for renewable heat from the perspective of putting in place a solution to move away from this gas-fed communal system to something that is more environmentally and financially sustainable.

In talking about retrofitting, I wish to raise briefly the following issue. Louth County Council was ahead of itself at some level. In 2023, it had a target of 105 but was able to draw down money from other places and was able to deliver 205 houses. The target for this year is 140, however, so the Taoiseach can see the issue. We need to deliver on the basis of the capacity it has. It has a stock of 4,200, and at the end of last year only 424 had been retrofitted. As good as the work is, we need to be able to deliver more to deal with the 2030 target.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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At the start of this term the public was promised a Government that would be green and would be environmentally ambitious. Despite all the talk we are not seeing when it comes to implementing change. Setting targets was important but it was the easy bit. Meeting the targets is the more difficult bit. We heard both today and yesterday repeated warnings from the Climate Change Advisory Council and the EPA that this Government and Ireland are not on target to meet our 2030 targets. That will result in an €8 billion fine for this country. Will the Taoiseach start investing in communities now? We have seen under this Government reductions in the solar and EV grants and measures for homes that are far too expensive. It is completely out of the grasp of most people to do their piece for climate action. As we look down the barrel of this election and €8 billion in fines, will the Taoiseach please consider ensuring the grants that are available are suitable and that we are investing in people and the environment now and not just wasting that money paying fines in a few years' time? The Social Democrats in government would not have cut those grants. In fact, we would have ramped them up to make sure everybody can play their part when it comes to the climate and that we bring everybody along. It is not okay that, as we move to a more carbon-neutral society, we are leaving people behind, not only people in poverty but also people who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads or pay their mortgage. They cannot afford to do things like solar panels or heat pumps. We need to help those people. It is much better use of public money to invest in those people now and invest in grants rather than just handing it over to Europe in 2030.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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A new international team of researchers has just established that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded and critically that land-based carbon absorption has collapsed completely, going way beyond the worst case scenarios of previous research.

Forests, lakes, soils and so on that are supposed to be absorbing carbon are not doing it anymore, such is the level of deforestation, the poor quality of a certain type of forestry, wildfires and so on. This research is terrifying because it means all the models are out the window and that the scenario is far worse and will accelerate.

When the land is not absorbing carbon, what is left is the ocean. Some 50% to 60% of oxygen is produced by the ocean and through carbon absorption by the ocean forests and plankton. If we have already destroyed, to a huge degree, the ability of the land to absorb carbon, we had better not do the same to the sea. The way development of our marine environment is being planned could do to the sea what we have done to the land. I ask the Government once again to not allow industrialisation, even in the name of climate change, of sensitive marine environments which could destroy the ability of sandbanks around the country, which are rich in plankton and absorb carbon. Do not destroy them with industrialisation until they have been properly assessed as to whether they should be protected environments.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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The Climate Change Advisory Council says we face €8 billion in fines for missing our emissions reductions targets. The Taoiseach's predecessor, Leo Varadkar, told the Business Post at the weekend the targets will not be met. About 10% of emissions are from heating and using electricity in residential homes. Housing for All commits to bringing in minimum BER standards for the private rental sector by 2025. There is no sign of that target being achieved and we are a couple of months away from 2025. Half of all private rented accommodation owned by individual landlords has a BER of D or lower. That is about 150,000 homes that are cold, damp and poorly insulated. It is much worse than the figure for owner-occupied housing. The reason for that is landlords do not suffer from the cold and damp; it is the tenants who suffer. Badly insulated homes cost around €2,500 extra to heat per year compared with B2-rated homes. That is a cost that is borne by the tenants, not the landlords. Tenants cannot avail of any of the schemes or grants for retrofitting. That is why on Monday I launched a Bill with Friends of the Earth to legislate for minimum BER standards in the private rented sector, prohibiting landlords from using retrofitting as a pretext for evicting tenants or raising rents. Will the Taoiseach bring in minimum BER standards for private rental accommodation?

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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What is the balance sheet of the Government, which includes the Green Party, on environmental issues? The Taoiseach will, no doubt, tell me greenhouse gas emissions fell in most sectors last year, but the Climate Change Advisory Council says the fall is not nearly big enough to meet our modest climate obligations. The target for reduced emissions for 2030 is 51%. What is the Government headed for? It is 29%. How does the Environmental Protection Agency rate Government performance? On nature, very poorly; on water, poorly; on climate, poorly; on waste, poorly; on air quality and pollution, only moderately.

As the Government heads for the door, it is building fossil fuel infrastructure for liquified natural gas. At a time when real urgency is called for, the Green Party has failed to deliver the changes we need. A far more radical approach is necessary. Central to this will be building a movement of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands on the streets to demand action and identifying a capitalist system which puts profit before the environment as part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank colleagues. To Deputy Ó Murchú, I will seek an update on our ongoing engagement on the case of Private Seán Rooney. It is a case we take an active interest in and on which we continue to keep in close contact with the UN and the Lebanese Government. I also take the Deputy's point, which he has made before in the House, on the need for support schemes for renewable heat to be more innovative or agile in terms of responding to issues for people. I will bring that to the attention of the Minister.

Similarly, it is a fair point that if a county council is overperforming or has capacity to do more in the retrofitting system, and there is a lot of stock that needs it, we should look to reward those moving faster rather than have people move at the pace of the slowest. I will come back to the Deputy on that.

When Deputy Whitmore was raising those issues, I thought she was gearing up to raise the issue of the Glen of the Downs, which is something we will work on together.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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You can answer that as well if you want.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I will answer that as well because the Deputy gave me a petition on it from many of our constituents, and it is an important issue. I acknowledge the Deputy's good work on it and the meeting we had with the Delgany community council. I will work with the Deputy and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to see if we can make progress on that issue. While it is a local Wicklow issue, it is also a climate issue and an important community amenity we would like to see utilised for that.

Deputy Whitmore and other colleagues made a broader point on where we are at, and she is right to say setting targets is the easy bit and delivering them is harder. That is a statement of fact. She is also right to say it was important to set the targets and put them in law. We now need to put our shoulder to the wheel collectively to make sure we achieve the targets and do not end up paying fines.

The Government is committed to addressing greenhouse gas emissions. That is why we passed one of the most ambitious climate laws in the world and are trying to mobilise the public and private sectors to reduce climate emissions. As Deputy Barry predicted I would say, we saw a decrease of 6.8% in Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions compared with 2022, which had seen a 1.9% reduction on the previous year. Encouragingly, we have seen decreases in emissions across key sectors: electricity, 21.6%; industry, 5.8%; agriculture, 4.6%; and residential, 7.1%, while overall emissions fell below the 1990 baseline for the first time in three decades, and at a time when our economy grew by around 5%, which points to decoupling of economic growth and emissions.

I say that while fully accepting we will have to do more and raise the scale of the ambition. However, we cannot get fatalistic when it comes to climate change. We need businesses and people in all sectors of our economy to buy into the national and international effort. This is proof we can make progress. Recent modelling calculations from UCC's MaREI institute shows we are on track to stay within our first carbon budget if we achieve an annual 8% reduction in 2024 and 2025. There are other encouraging signs around public transport usage, falling nitrogen fertiliser use and retrofitting numbers up 80% in one year. There is more to do and that is why we have established this fund for climate adaptation and are putting billions of euro into it each year, which will be available to the next government for the uplift in the scale of ambition and action that will be required.

I take Deputy Boyd Barrett's point on needing to get offshore developments right. I would argue there is a comprehensive process already in place in terms of the mapping exercise and planning process. We also need to develop and build them at some point too. That is important.

I will look at Deputy Murphy's Bill, which has been published but which I have yet to read. I thank him for bringing it to my attention.

Did I answer Deputy Barry's question? I think I did.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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What about the balance sheet?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Our report card, was it?

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Yes.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I have outlined the progress we have made on climate change, accepting there is a lot more we need to do in the time ahead.