merrion street

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Alan Kelly T.D., today (18 January 2016) signed the establishment day order for the Climate Change Advisory Council which formally establishes the Council on a statutory basis in line with the provisions set out in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015. The Council will now continue, on a statutory basis, the work they commenced in June 2015, when the Council was set up on an interim basis pending enactment of the climate legislation.

A key function of the Council, which is chaired by Professor John FitzGerald, is to provide independent advice, and make recommendations, to Government and Ministers in relation to the low carbon transition process and the climate adaptation agenda as Ireland transitions to a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050. “The advice provided by the Council will be extremely valuable and particularly now in respect of having just recently enacted Ireland’s first ever climate legislation and more globally in noting the international context within which we will now operate post Paris. The Paris Agreement is ambitious, credible and based on shared effort and solidarity, particularly with the most vulnerable, and which will require Ireland to take ambitious, incremental action to permanently decarbonise the economy,” the Minister said.

“I know that the Council has already engaged with key sectors in the low carbon transition agenda and I am looking forward to continued, and robust, engagement with the Council as we tackle the formidable climate challenge that lies ahead,” the Minister concluded.