No, we will take them separately.

There is flexibility to debate both if you want to.

A message will be sent to Seanad Éireann acquainting it that Dáil Éireann has agreed to amendments Nos. 1 and 2 made by Seanad Éireann to the Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill 2022.

Amendment No. 1 has been ruled out of order.

I have a very specific question and it relates to the long-promised statutory guidelines we are waiting for that will form the basis on which climate action plans will be prepared and implemented. Where are the statutory guidelines? Have they been published or are they about to be published? If not, what is the delay and when will they be published?

They have been completed and sent out to all of the 31 local authorities. Is that what I am to understand? There has been no fanfare at this point and nobody knows about it except the local authority management. Is that correct? However, everybody will know about it in a month's time. I welcome that they have finally been published because without them we cannot have a local climate action plan or an implementation plan. The Minister of State took exception to Deputy Bríd Smith's comment earlier. I identify with he…

Too much time.

I am normally constructively critical, and quite severely so, of the management in the city council in Galway but on this occasion, it did everything right. It submitted the decarbonisation zone plan two years ago and the Department has done nothing since then. I and other colleagues, I think, followed it up and we were told that it was waiting for the statutory guidelines. It has taken until last Friday to publish the statutory guidelines, so let us apportion blame justly and fairly and where it is due. Let us pra…

Out of 31 local authorities 29 submitted decarbonisation plans. I have asked a very specific question. How have those plans just sat there? Have the other two local authorities, which did not submit plans, done so now? Equally significantly, has the Department now issued directions that they have until 7 March to direct the local authorities to make-----

No, I did not.

We are not. I beg your pardon. I was in my second minute of the priority question.

That is okay.

The rules do not allow me but I should have taken the two questions together to develop this a bit more. In utter frustration then, the second question is put down because of the decarbonisation plans sitting in the Department. I asked whether it is possible to have a pilot project to learn, to roll them out and let the local authorities do their jobs, and learn from it. In my six seconds, has the Department issued the direction that it is legally obliged to issue to the local authorities, to prepare the local acti…

We have clarification. The guidelines were issued last Friday. They will be made public within a month. We may have to wait another month to suit the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, presumably. A direction has also been issued to all the local authorities to prepare an action plan. Is that what the Minister of State said? I do not have the reply in front of me. Let us be very clear now because I have four pages of background here and the levels of frustration are quite high. The Minister …

I am asking why it has taken up until now to get the guidelines, while welcoming them. I will not interrupt.

I am going to try again. Has the Minister issued the direction to the local authorities to prepare their climate action plans? The Department is under a legal obligation to do that within 18 months. That 18 months is up next Tuesday, 7 March. Has that happened? If it has not happened, will it happen before 7 March? In regard to a history lesson on the decarbonisation zones, let me put on the record that I am praising Galway City Council. In April 2021, Galway City Council submitted its application, expecting to get…

Ar ais linn arís go dtí polasaí na n-oileán. Cá bhfuil sé? Táimid ag fanacht ó 2019 i leith. Cuireadh grúpa oibre tras-rannach le chéile i 2019; táimid anois i 2023. Cá bhfuil an polasaí? Thug an Aire geallúintí dom. The Minister gave promises. I know her heart is in this. She has shown a commitment to the islands and has visited them. Where is the policy for the islands? It is the most basic request to have a policy for the islands, followed by a work programme and legislation.

I thank the Minister. I welcome her dedication and the fact that she wants an action plan. She will forgive my cynicism and, more importantly, that of the islanders who have waited a long time. We have had interdepartmental reports previously. That was what led me to table a motion in respect of this matter before the Dáil, which was accepted by a majority in 2019. It is very serious that the Minister is not happy with what she has been given. When the Minister said it was not strong enough, is she referring to the…

The problem, and the reason I tabled the motion, as did people before me, is the crisis in respect of the islands' population. Of the 30 islands, eight are in Gaeltacht areas and they contain 70% of the population. On so many levels, including Irish language sustainability, this is about the sustainability of the islands, whether their populations speak Irish or English. That is why we put the focus of the Government on this. It has taken many years. Can the Minister not publish the policy? If she cannot publish it…

Question No. 15 was already dealt with as a priority question, in effect. It is the same question as the priority question. I am not sure why it was left in. May I take Question No. 18 instead?