Ms Bernadette Phelan:

As our membership comprises 100 companies, we have a good sample set to show what is happening. On the social impact, we run a collective project in gathering information on company volunteering, fundraising and the community engagement aspect. Data we gathered in 2018 from 50 companies showed 270,000 volunteering hours. Let us consider the impact. There were also cash donations made by those companies totalling €13.5 million, while employees had raised €5.5 million and €11.6 million in funds. That is just a small sample set of companies within Ireland, but it gives us an indication that the business community is cognisant of its role in being a good neighbour and engaging on issues. Some of the top issues companies addressed with the cash donations and volunteering hours included health, social inclusion, education and educational disadvantage, particularly in the context of having a good pipeline of talent and youth, and general community engagement. We are, therefore, able to articulate the impact of companies and that is just within the social impact space. We also gather information on environmental impacts and recently launched a low carbon pledge. We are also working with companies to help them to manage, report on and reduce their own emissions. The narrative of this agenda relates to a business having a major role to play in influencing its customers, as well as managing its own footprint. I refer to the lovely example Ms Heaney gave of a company talking to employees about how they get to work. We have those conversations on how businesses can create an impact. Therefore, what we do is multifaceted.