Ryan flies to COP27 with 55-strong delegation
CLIMATE Minister Eamon Ryan made lastminute travel arrangements so he could fly with a 55-strong delegation to attend the COP27 summit in Egypt this week.
A spokeswoman for Minister Ryan confirmed last week that the travel arrangements for the summit in Sharm El Sheikh had still not been finalised.
In response to queries from the Irish Mail on Sunday, the spokeswoman said: ‘Minister Ryan’s schedule and travel arrangements are still being finalised. The Minister is expected to attend the second week.’
In response to follow-up queries from the MoS this weekend, his Department confirmed Minister Ryan is travelling with a delegation comprising of ‘55 representatives from across a range of key departments and agencies, which will attend for some or all of the conference’.
A spokesman for Mr Ryan said the officials attending the climate summit are ‘engaged across a range of EU negotiating teams linked to a number of priority areas for Ireland including loss and damage, science, gender and climate finance’.
The department said that ‘overflow badges’ were granted to 33 representatives ‘from a broad range of civil society organisations including youth representatives, academic and industry groups’.
The spokesman confirmed they are travelling economy class and ‘no VIP services have been procured for the trip’.
He said: ‘Full details on costs associated with COP27 will be available after the conference.’