Ms Roshin Sen:

On the extent of engagement with other Departments on the SDGs more broadly, the two main strategies we are implementing within the Department are cross-departmental or whole-of-government strategies, including the Roadmap for Social Inclusion and Pathways to Work. Both have mechanisms for oversight that are interdepartmental and include external stakeholders. For instance, the Roadmap for Social Inclusion includes all Departments that have targets. We also have three community and volunteer representatives: the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Vincentian Minimum Essential Standard of Living, MESL, Research Centre and the European Anti-Poverty Network. They provide external oversight. On the roadmap and its link to the SDGs, an annual progress report and report card are produced each year where each of the commitments are aligned with the relevant SDG. That connection is visible in the report card and we are conscious of that.

Similarly, Pathways to Work includes a reference and acknowledgement of how it works to implement SDG 8. That has external oversight through the labour market advisory council, which, again, is interdepartmental. People from the relevant Departments that have made commitments are on the council, in addition to people from employer representative groups, trade unions and the community and voluntary sector, including the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed and the National Youth Council of Ireland. Through that, we have many interconnections between different Departments and relevant external stakeholders in the implementation of SDGs, as well as the connection.

I will also mention that as part of the co-ordinating work done by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, it has provided each Department with a policy mapping tool, allowing them to look at the national strategies to make sure we make a connection between the SDGs and the national strategy. That policy mapping is being undertaken by all Departments with national strategies.

That then allows us to see how the sustainable development goals are being implemented across Government by the different national strategies at a central level, and to then be able to see where there are gaps in implementation as well. The Department of Rural and Community Development is also on the roadmap for social inclusion steering group.