The Minister would have to read them first.

Sentiment score: 0.00

10. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the extent to which the Oileáin Árann decarbonisation zone in County Galway has achieved the required 7% annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; the status of the implementation plan to achieve the reduction; the resources allocated to Galway County Council in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17823/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

15. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications further to Parliamentary Question No. 111 of 20 February 2025, the extent to which the decarbonisation zone in Galway city has achieved the required 7% annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; the status of the implementation plan to achieve the reduction; the resources allocated to Galway City Council in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17822/25]

Sentiment score: -0.07

I will stay with decarbonisation, particularly the decarbonisation zones in Oileáin Árann and Galway city. I seek an update on what has been achieved in respect of the annual 7% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the status of the implementation plan and the resources involved. Neither of the local authorities can do much without resources. I will come back to the matter of the delay. For the moment, it would be positive if the Minister could give me an update.

Sentiment score: 0.15

I look forward to that report and the Minister might give me some indication as to the quarter in which it will be published. As usual, the reason I am sceptical is the delay. I want to praise the city council in Galway. It came up trumps. It was actually within the time limit and it identified the decarbonisation zone. I am from that area originally but am not in it now, although it is quite a big area so I will have to check. I know Shantalla and the area very well. It is beside the university and it is a wonderful example of climate change in action. However, it cannot be done without a properly resourced team. The county council, which we meet regularly along with the Minister's colleagues on a cross-party basis, continuously tells us that it is underfunded. As it cannot even manage to do the roads it is supposed to be doing, I do not know how it can manage this extremely important project. I am familiar with the Aran Islands. It is part of my constituency and I go out there regularly. I welcome this positive news but the decarbonisation zone was identified by Galway back in 2018 or 2019. We are now in 2025 and I would like to know what progress has been made. Once again, I am not criticising the city council at all; I am asking the Department what monitoring will take place. Will it be monitored independently? What system would be in place for monitoring it? When the report is published later this year, who will give us that report? What markers will be there to show us how much has been achieved? Where are we in respect of our obligation on the 7% reduction? I can tell the Minister that the people of Galway were always ahead of us. Some 20 years ago they asked us to have a zero-waste policy. We produced a plan in Galway city, which was actually rejected, where we were looking at zero waste. We had a public authority-run facility for recycling, reuse and so on, but the Government privatised it all and we went backwards.

Sentiment score: 0.10

I very much welcome the Minister's hands-on and positive approach. He has mentioned various things. Galway County Council has consistently and continuously told us that it is underfunded. It sets out the parameters under which it gets its funding, and it is underfunded. It is one of the most underfunded local authorities. This is on record with the Minister's Department. There have been many meetings on this issue. The city council is slightly better, but not much. On active travel, it is oversubscribed all the time. People want active travel. For example, this week there was a second protest out in Bearna. That is tangential to the issue we are discussing but it is in the same area. They had to go out and protest two weeks in a row because of a failure of the safe schools route. The ones that were opened up by the Government going back over time are oversubscribed. There are phases 1, 2 and 3 and, in the meantime, they are taking their safety in their own hands. These are children attending school. I am not exaggerating. People do not protest two weeks in a row at 8 o'clock in the morning, desperately drawing the attention of the county council to the danger, for no reason. Of course, the safe routes to school programme run by An Taisce is brilliant but there is not enough money or resources within the county council to implement the schemes when the National Transport Authority, working with An Taisce, brings the schemes up. I will go back to the issue at hand. It is a wonderful idea but the delay so far has been unacceptable. The council cannot deliver on this. I know this from talking to its representatives on the ground. They do not have the resources in the climate action regional offices, CAROs. The Minister referred to millions of euros. I have a figure of €7.9 million and he has a figure of €9 million. When that is spread out between all of the local authorities it comes to zilch, really. Crucial to this is independent monitoring of the progress with regard to the 7% reduction, and a tolerance of locl authorities coming forward to tell the Minister they simply cannot do this wonderful thing because they do not have enough money. That atmosphere has to be created where they can come forward.

Sentiment score: 0.09