14A. (1) The Minister shall, in each year after the publication of the annual report and the Agency’s reports, at the written request of a joint committee, attend before it to give an account, for the period of the annual report, of the following matters:

(a) progress under the most recent approved climate action plan, including the policies, mitigation measures and adaptation measures that have been adopted;

(b) whether there has been a reduction or increase in greenhouse gas emissions based on the Agency’s reports;

(c) compliance with the carbon budget and any measures envisaged to address any failure to so comply;

(d) the implementation of adaptation policy measures under the most recent approved national adaptation framework.

(2) Each Minister of the Government shall, in each year after the publication of the annual report and the Agency’s reports, at the written request of a joint committee, attend before such committee to give an account of the matters specified in subsection (3).

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), each Minister of the Government shall, in relation to the sector for which the Minister of the Government has responsibility, give an account, for the period of the annual report, of the following matters:

(a) sector specific progress under the most recent approved climate action plan, including the policies and measures that have been adopted and any significant failure to implement such policies and measures, or to achieve sector specific targets;

(b) whether there has been a reduction or increase in greenhouse gas emissions based on the Agency’s reports;

(c) compliance with the sectoral emissions ceiling and any measures envisaged to address any failure to so comply;

(d) the implementation of adaptation policy measures and any adaptation policy measures envisaged, where a sectoral adaptation plan has been prepared.

(4) The joint committee may, where it considers it appropriate, having received an account from the Minister under subsection (1) or a Minister of the Government under subsection (2), prepare a report on the recommendations of the committee with regard to any of the matters specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (1) or in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (3), as the case may be, and where the committee prepares such a report, it shall provide a copy of the report to the Minister of the Government concerned.

(5) A Minister of the Government shall consider any report provided to him or her under subsection (4) and that Minister shall provide a response in writing to the joint committee within a period of three months of the receipt of that report.

(6) In this section, ‘the Agency’s reports’ means the national greenhouse gas emissions inventory and the projection of future greenhouse gas emissions prepared by the Agency.]