Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan is aiming for the country’s first carbon budgets to be set by June or July.

Under the climate bill, carbon budgets will be adopted every five years to cut greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy, including agriculture.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Thursday, Minister Ryan said there is an urgency to get the climate action bill through the Dáil.

“We have an urgency here time-wise. We need a new action plan in place for this summer.”

He said he expects to get the bill through the Dáil in a number of weeks, then it will go to the Seanad.

“We need it in place so that by this June/July we set the first five-year budget and the first climate action plan to implement it.

“The reason we do that is so that we start this year - 2021 is the first year of these three five-year plans that will be evolved on a rolling basis, so that’s why there is a timeline urgency on it,” he said.

Budgets

All forms of greenhouse gas emissions, including biogenic methane which is methane from livestock, will be included in the carbon budgets.

Government, following advice from the Climate Change Advisory Council, is to decide on the trajectories for different sectors.