I ask the Minister to provide information on the status of the carbon budgets and a clear timeline for the publication of the carbon budgets and the climate action plan. With just over a week to the start of the crucial climate talks at COP26 in Glasgow and with only nine years to the 2030 deadline for the achievement of our ambitious and welcome 51% reduction target, what is lacking is a sense of clarity and urgency in the Government's response in respect of its proposed measures to deal the climate emergency and to show how we are going to achieve our emissions reduction targets. Everyone I speak to in the renewable energy sector and people involved in this are concerned about the lack of implementation measures, the lack of urgency and the lack of clarity.

We were led to believe that the carbon budgets would be published in the first week of October, before the fiscal budget. It would have been preferable if we could have seen those budgets aligned. It would have been useful to have been able to scrutinise budget 2022 in the context of our vital climate action targets alongside the carbon budgets, but we were unable to do so. Now there are reports this week that the proposals of the Climate Change Advisory Council are likely to be published next week, but the Dáil and Seanad will not be sitting next week. It will be well into the commencement of COP26, therefore, before we will be able to have a debate in the Oireachtas on these crucial documents regarding the crucial measures in the carbon budgets and in the climate action plan.

There is also a lack of clarity on other key measures we need to take regarding climate change. There were reports yesterday that the just transition commissioner will not be placed on a statutory footing, as was promised in the programme for Government. What is the position on that? There are also real concerns about the announcement in budget 2022 of the removal of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, grant for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. This grant had already been reduced in July from €5,000 to €2,500. We agree with the need to incentivise the move to fully electric vehicles, and I welcome the budget announcement of the extension of the grant in that regard, but there is still a lack of clarity and a lack of notice to people who might have made decisions on making a move to more environmentally-friendly transport and who are now faced with this change.

We must ensure that there is public buy-in for the measures necessary to tackle climate change. We have to ensure that people, particularly in rural areas, are assured about decisions and can have confidence in them. We have to bring people with us. That is crucial in advance of COP26. All of us, including those who will be on Merrion Square tomorrow at 1 p.m. for a pre-COP26 climate action protest, want to see real clarity, certainty and urgency from the Government.

On the timelines with regard to carbon budgets, we have to be careful here because the Climate Change Advisory Council is independent in the way it has been established and in the way it sets out its work. However, I understand it is meeting on 25 October, which is next week, and I hope and expect, subject to it being satisfied with its process, that it will be able to issue the first of the two carbon budgets for the first and second five-year periods bringing us to the end of the decade. I expect it will also publish supporting documentation to show the research that has been undertaken in the Climate Change Advisory Council to justify the approach it will recommend to the Government. The appointment of the full complement of four final members of the Climate Change Advisory Council had to await the enactment of the Bill before it could be done under proper statute. There was also the drafting of regulations, which we have now agreed. That allows the council to progress with its carbon budgets to outline which greenhouse gases we account for. That had to be done first before the council could then publish its budget.

Once it does that, we expect that very quickly - 3 November in the following week is my indicative timeline - the Government will consider a draft climate action plan which we will issue in response. We have been working a great deal on this in advance. That will contain extensive details. Similar to the previous plan adopted by the then Minister, Deputy Bruton, it will contain a wide series of actions and main chapter headings setting out the strategic direction we need to take in this area. It is transformative beyond compare because the 50% reduction in emissions requires us to completely change our energy system, transport system, land use and agricultural system and industrial systems for the better. We can and will do this.

Much of the work that has been done has fed into some of the key measures that have been put in place in the last month. The key emphasis in Housing for All on town centre first and compact development was informed by what we know we will have to do on the transport side in our carbon budget. In the national development plan there were just two Departments which had full clarity on their ten-year capital programmes - €35 billion in the case of the Department of Transport and €12.9 billion in the case of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. We needed that clarity to be able to give the sectors the Deputy mentioned certainty about the scale of investment the Government will have to make and, in many cases, the back-up scale that will be needed for other investments. A huge amount of work has been done. We will have it in time to go to COP26 with a draft climate action plan from Ireland to give it a sense of where we are going to proceed. However, the real challenge now will be implementing it at the speed and scale that are necessary to meet the correct calls of concern from the climate strikers.

I entirely agree with the Minister about the necessity for urgency and the scale of the challenge facing us. I am somewhat dismayed to hear that it will be 3 November and later in November before we will see consideration by the Government of the draft climate action plan and publication of the carbon budgets. That appears to be quite significant slippage, particularly as COP26 will have started on 31 October. It is a real concern given that these are measures which have had to be in preparation for a long time. We all are well aware of that and of the section 6A timeline for the carbon budget, which was for the period commencing last January. We know, therefore, that this is something that has been in preparation for a long time. It is simply not good enough to see this slippage into November. I accept what the Minister said about the advisory council, but it is unfortunate to see that long, ongoing delay.

I would like a response on the other issues I raised regarding other measures that also require clarity. We also have to emphasise the huge opportunity that lies ahead of us in moving from fossil fuel bases. That is an opportunity we must grasp with positivity as well as urgency.

I accept the Deputy's point about the date. To be honest, the decision was whether to go out straight away, the day after the Climate Change Advisory Council hopefully publishes its budget approach.

I thought that was inappropriate and it was better to give that a certain amount of time. In addition, the Dáil would not be sitting and I would prefer to come back to this House on 3 November, which is in plenty of time for when the serious negotiations in the COP take place in the second week of November. Therefore, it will be in time for that.

On the specific issue the Deputy mentioned in terms of plug-in hybrid vehicles, it is absolutely appropriate that we focus the resources we have on the switch to 100% electric vehicles rather than plug-in hybrid vehicles. There is considerable research which I will share with the Deputy separately, showing that the emissions reductions from the plug-in hybrid sector are not significant because of behavioural issues and so on. It is far better to focus the resources we have on the switch that is now taking place at speed and scale towards 100% electric vehicles. I believe that is the right policy choice.