Ireland will not meet its EU Effort Sharing Regulation target of 42 per cent reduction by 2030, instead a maximum reduction of 22 per cent is projected.

The Taoiseach said the Government would exceed its overall target and the total figure would be ‘well upwards towards 40,000’

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted that the government needs to ‘do better’ this year and next year.

A Department of Housing official said a bank of planning permissions can be activated to meet this year’s target.

However, the Minister for the Environment also acknowledged the emission targets must be revised upwards in the future