Environmental Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17
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Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East

We are committed to supporting emissions reductions in the built environment sector across the economy. That is what Deputy Daly specifically asked in the question. We are taking action every day to implement climate mitigation measures, which also provide warmer and more comfortable homes and support energy affordability, energy security and energy sustainability for households and businesses.
The EPA's latest provisional greenhouse gas emissions inventory, published in July, shows the impact this work is having. Emissions fell in all main sectors in 2025 and emissions from buildings decreased by 4.7%. Overall emissions have fallen for a fourth consecutive year and they are at the lowest level they have been for 36 years. Emissions per capita are now at the lowest level since 1990. On foot of these record reductions, we are projected to achieve the first carbon budget and the sectoral emissions ceiling in the residential and public and commercial building sectors.
Looking forward, existing measures and additional measures are projected to improve. They will not get us to 50% by 2030 but the EPA projections to 2030 have improved across most sectors. This is a clear sign that we are making progress.
Very importantly, for four years we have been able to decouple economic growth from emissions growth. We are back to the 1990 emissions level but we have 1.5 million more people in the Republic, 1 million more homes and more than 1 million more cars. We need to accelerate this and try to bridge that gap. A big part of this, and Deputy Daly mentioned the built environment in particular, is made up of the grant schemes and the investment in retrofitting that I mentioned. There have been about 287,000 home upgrades.
We need to do more on the public built environment also. Some very good work is being done in our university sector and in hospitals and local authorities. It is our job to accelerate this. The next climate action plan, which I will publish well before the end of this year and intend to bring to Cabinet at the end of October, will cover this year and 2027. It will be a more focused plan and will identify strategic climate priorities that will shape our approach to closing the gap to 2030.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-17