11. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to outline the rationale for section 7 of the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27626/26]
Sentiment score: -0.10
I want to ask the Minister, Deputy Chambers, about his intentions through the Critical Infrastructure Bill, particularly section 7, in terms of the removal of the climate duty, a duty on all public bodies to assess the climate impact of infrastructure projects they are advancing.
Sentiment score: -0.25
Mario Draghi may have rightfully highlighted real challenges in our planning system but I do not think he placed the blame on the climate action Act or section 15. As I said in the Chamber on Tuesday, we are talking in a context where the previous Government signed up to legally binding international and European targets but the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, announced over Christmas that we would not reach those targets. The climate Act was central to our ability as a state to reach those targets and now the Government is systematically trying to take out one of the central elements, the climate duty under section 15. It has been systematic. It is seen in this legislation, it is seen in the airport cap and it is in the strategic gas Bill. I asked the Minister to name the judicial review cases taken on the basis of section 15. Can he name cases that have been taken on the basis of section 15?
Sentiment score: -0.01
The Minister continually puts the blame for judicial reviews on environmentalists and on people who are concerned about climate action but let me cite three actual judicial review cases. Not the hypothetical ones that the Minister continues to cite, but actual cases that took place on three major public transport projects. There was the judicial review on DART+ West in our constituency that was taken by a landowner. There was the judicial review on the BusConnects project to Blanchardstown in our constituency that was taken by a landowner. There was the judicial review taken against the Luas Finglas project that was again taken by a landowner. In each of those cases, section 15 of the climate Act, which the Minister wants to disapply, would actually have strengthened the case of the National Transport Authority, NTA, the State agency looking to take the particular project, just as section 15 strengthened the case of An Bord Pleanála in the Coolglass case. The Minister is getting this wrong. He is not looking at the implication of what he is going to do. The Minister should read the Coolglass judgment and understand that he is weakening the State's hand in defending judicial review cases on major projects that will actually help reduce our carbon emissions.
Sentiment score: 0.06
94. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment to provide an update on the planned publication date for the 2026 climate action plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27598/26]
Sentiment score: 0.10
151. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the reason for the delay in the publication of the 2026 climate action plan, which was initially due to be published in December 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27599/26]
Sentiment score: -0.01
Today is 16 April and we are almost a third of the way through the year. When will the Department publish the climate action plan for 2026?
Sentiment score: 0.00
I specified the date today because last year the climate action plan for 2025 was published on 15 April. At least last year there was there was some excuse for delay - there was a general election followed by the formation of a new Government, and the Minister needed to get a sense of his new Department. This year, those excuses do not exist and it starts to look like a lack of interest, a lack of urgency. With the Minister saying, as he has just done, that the plan will be published later this year, that sense of urgency is not coming across to me. By his own admission, Ireland will not meet its 2030 targets. I know he has been trying to reverse what he said over Christmas since then. The climate action plan for 2026 is vital not just for this year but also for the next five years. Beyond trying to convince me about the importance of these steps for the Government, how can the Minister convince the Irish people if the central policy document for what happens next is delayed? He has given me a list of what brought us to here. Where we are is that we are behind our targets. The next big steps we need to see have to be set out in the climate action plan. The 2026 one is particularly important because it is the start of the next carbon budget cycle. We know we are a long way off and it needs to see some really big ideas, really big policies and how they will be funded within it. We are a third of the way through the year. We are losing time and we are losing the opportunity to implement these policies. Can the Minister give me any better sense of when it will come in?
Sentiment score: 0.07
I will not get into a back-and-forth over what was said at Christmas because I do not think it is useful at this stage. However, given how far off track we are at this current time, the climate action plan for this year, which sets out the priorities for the next five years within the carbon budget, is absolutely crucial. The Minister spoke about priorities. He will need to take some really big extra steps. It is not just about ticking the box and puttering along from where we are now. I see the focus that the Government is putting on the Critical Infrastructure Bill, as this is going to be some big part of it. Deputy Whitmore made some points about it earlier and I have made some points to the Minister, Deputy Chambers. I think what the Government is proposing there is actually counterproductive, but we will have that debate another time. In terms of the big step that was taken last week with a huge package of additional funding to deal with the emergency crisis to end the protest and the blockades, does the Minister believe the Department will get the financial backing across the Government to take some of these really big steps, steps beyond what have been budgeted for previously and steps that might make eyes water in the Department of public expenditure and in the fiscal council, but steps that are now necessary when we see for the second time in four years the vulnerability of our economy to its addiction to fossil fuels and the consequent impact on our emissions? If this climate action plan does not contain some big, bold and new ideas to decarbonise and does not provide greater energy security or affordability for Irish people, and if it does not have a clear financial commitment behind it, it will not be worth anything.
Sentiment score: -0.03
98. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if consideration is being given by his Department to permitting the use of plug-in solar panels for residential properties in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27602/26]
Sentiment score: 0.10
Over the last number of months, I have been asking the Minister about the issue of plug-in solar to ensure that more households in Ireland can benefit from cheap solar power. Will the Minister give me a timeline on when we will have a clear decision from him and the Department as to whether plug-in solar can be used in this country?
Sentiment score: 0.55
The issue here is a question of speed. One million households in Germany use plug-in solar right now. There has been an 18-month consultation on this issue here. I agree that safety issues have to be addressed but the Minister has suggested that there may be a need for some form of regulation. We need some speed on this. Look at what the UK Secretary of State, Ed Miliband, did. He brought in the manufacturers, providers and installers to ask them about the specific issues and the regulatory challenges that needed to be addressed. What are the regulatory challenges we need to address? As I have said, this matter has been going on for 18 months. Irish people, particularly those living in apartments, are being denied the opportunity to benefit from free energy in the midst of the worst energy crisis we have seen in this country. An assurance was given to Deputy Heneghan. I ask that I also be kept informed about the timeline for the delivery of this measure. Action needs to be taken now.
Sentiment score: 0.07