Ms Catherine Heaney:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach, le Teachtaí, agus le Seanadóirí. Is pribhléid dom a bheith os comhair an choiste inniu.

This is an important engagement for us and I thank the Chairman and members for providing us with the opportunity to address the committee on the issue of the national plan on corporate social responsibility, CSR, and the work of the Corporate Social Responsibility Stakeholder Forum, which supports the implementation of the plan. I am accompanied this afternoon by officials from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, as well as by Bernadette Phelan from Business in the Community Ireland.

I have provided a full copy of my script but I may use an abridged version because when I tried it out last night, it was a bit long. Before I go into detail of the national plan and the work of the forum, I wish to reflect on the work of CSR and what it means. The European Commission defines CSR as "the responsibility of enterprises for their impact on society." There are many different definitions and conflicting views over the language relating to CSR. I like to describe CSR as business going beyond compliance. All businesses sign up to a set of rules but CSR is not just about ticking the box; it is going beyond the box. It is about being seen and acting as a good corporate citizen. It must be remembered that there is significant competitive advantage in doing that.

I have been running a small and medium-sized enterprise, SME, in the Liberties in Dublin for the past 15 years. When I started my business, I did not really think about being a good corporate citizen. It was something that was quite instinctive to me. The more I went beyond compliance, the more benefits I got back. At the time, there was much less investment in the Liberties than there is now. I had a feeling that we had a covenant with the community around us.

As our first CSR activity, we started to do some pro bonowork in the area, particularly in the schools, highlighting many of the good activities that were happening in the area. That continued throughout my business life for the 15 years that my business has been established in Francis Street in the Liberties. It also extends to our business practice, our workforce and how we treat one another. It is not just about paying the minimum wage; it goes way beyond that. It is about training and development for staff. Sometimes when the margins are tight, that is tricky. It is challenge that faces many SMEs and that needs to be recognised.

There is a misplaced notion that CSR just came about in the past 20 years. However, it has existed in Ireland for a few hundred years. Members may be aware that in the 1700s, the Guinness family provided hot meals for their workers because malnourished employees were turning up to work. In the 1800s a number of employers, particularly in the big cities in Ireland, provided key worker housing and supported their employees' health. It is not new but it only became recognised as a practice in the 1950s. The practice of reporting and creating obligations relating to CSR happened in the past two decades.

On that basis, in 2011 the European Commission published its first CSR strategy and invited member states to develop national plans on CSR. In doing that the EU recognised that companies that go beyond compliance by taking care of their employees, their customers, their suppliers, the environment and the communities in which they operate are better positioned. By embedding a CSR ethos at the heart of business, enterprises can improve competitiveness, strengthen their long-term sustainability, attract and retain talent - which particularly at the moment can be a big challenge for businesses that are doing quite well - while also fostering social cohesion and protecting the environment. Increasingly CSR is seen as a win-win. It benefits the business and also benefits the stakeholders, including the community, the customers and everybody involved.

This EU foresight was shared by the Irish Government when in 2014, Ireland launched our first CSR action plan. That was a landmark occasion and the CSR forum was established. It comprises 40 members drawn from companies, the public sector and other social partners. Our job is to support the national plan. We now have a new plan, the second plan, published in 2017. I am the chair of the current forum. Our job is to promote CSR practice across five headings: the public sector; diversity and inclusion; environment; social and governance factors; and the sustainable development goals.

As a forum, we see our role as communicators and advocates for strong CSR practice across businesses in Ireland. We are also including the public sector in this. We focus on emphasising good practice and encouraging businesses to adopt such good practice. Our work is heavily underpinned by the officials on the panel, as well as Ms Helen Keane-MacDonough and Ms Sandra Mullen, who are seated behind me and who do great work. It is important to recognise that they do not come from a section in the Department that just works on CSR; they have many other functions as well. I am always really impressed by their willingness and eagerness to expedite the work under the national plan.

Put together, I think we have seen considerable success. I have been sitting on the CSR forum for the past five years since it was established. It is clear that CSR has moved from something that was at the margins for business to now being a boardroom issue. Five years ago, the CSR function in a bigger company was held by somebody who also did marketing and communications; it was just an add-on. Now it has become a function in its own right. We can really see the elevation of the practice. On a day-to-day basis, Ms Mullen and Ms Keane-MacDonough receive new queries from SMEs asking how they can engage in CSR, which is really good news.

As members will see in the script we provided the committee, over the past five years we have delivered a number of tangible things. We have our website csrhub.iewith 100 case studies. The case studies offer ideas about good practice and how companies can engage in and implement CSR. We try to give broad examples for use by SMEs, as well as for bigger businesses. We have an ambassador programme and we also conduct a number of key meetings and a leaders breakfast once a year.

We usually hold one of our meetings outside Dublin. This time last year we were in Cavan. When we hold meetings outside Dublin, we try to invite as many businesses as possible from the communities in which we are holding the meetings. I am a consumer of Áine chocolate. Last year, Áine herself came to the meeting in Cavan. She explained that she has always done her best to be a good business leader. She works with a local school, which provides the pollen from their garden. It is a lovely story involving all this joined-up thinking. She sources all her products locally. She outlined how engaging in CSR helps her to have a competitive advantage. Apart from emphasising the local partnerships, she also organised to have an energy audit. She found she was burning too many gas rings, leaving them on for too long when she was melting the chocolate. She cut that down by half, reducing her energy bill and her overheads. She now has a competitive advantage. It is great to hear stories like that. Sometimes businesses are doing great things in CSR and they do not necessarily call it that.

We have also created a public sector network, emphasising the importance of CSR in public service delivery. Last week according to the CX Index, the credit unions came out on top as being most consumer friendly. We did not see many public service organisations in it but that is about to change.

Even from my vantage point, I have seen how public services are rallying around how to improve the CSR offering in public service delivery. That is commendable.

We have achieved a lot, but the work has to continue. We will have a new plan coming out in 2021 and there are matters on which we need to focus and improve. For example, there is a need for greater engagement with small and medium enterprises, particularly outside Dublin. It is good to see a regional spread among the elected representatives here because in some ways they also have an ambassadorial role. It would help if there was greater emphasis on cross-departmental work, something I know that Ms McHugh is driving, with officials in other Departments. Leadership is so important, particularly at political level. In fairness, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has been a natural and important advocate for the CSR agenda. Sometimes I pull down a speech she has made to check if CSR is mentioned. She does mention it and she is an ambassador for it. That is important, but we cannot just rely on one person to be the public voice.

It is important to recognise that CSR is not a panacea or replacement for public policy. It is an opportunity for businesses to work better with all stakeholders to create a more sustainable economy. There are a raft of policies being implemented which the CSR agenda could support, including the implementation of the sustainable development goals, the climate action plan, the business in human rights agenda, active implementation of the public service duty, the forthcoming LGBTI+ strategies, as well as the national volunteering strategy. The CSR stakeholder forum is committed to being flexible in seeing how it can key into the other strategies across other Departments.

Next year, as we move into the final year of the plan, the views of members, particularly as a committee focused on business and innovation, will be important. We would like to be able to engage with the committee on developing priorities for the next plan because the wider our reach the better, both in terms of amplification and in understanding of CSR. As we move through these potentially more challenging times with Brexit and challenges such as climate change, it is necessary for us, the economy and society to be as resilient as possible. Having a responsible business culture is central in that regard. We should not forget that CSR also offers us the potential to grow, be competitive and part of the circular economy in order that we can grow jobs and be more innovative, particularly in the regions. It is important to remember this.

I again thank the Cathaoirleach for giving us this opportunity. We are happy to have a discussion on this issue and take further questions from members.