Mr. J.P. Mulherin:

This is something we will take away from this discussion this morning, to maybe think a little bit more about how the sustainable development goals are built more broadly into the application processes that we have, in a way that assists communities to understand how the SDGs are delivering through any project they are applying for.

I take the Senator's point on the Tidy Towns. There is that desire to have everything looking pretty, but to be fair to the competition itself there is a very clear focus under themes such as biodiversity and sustainability around the broader aspect of biodiversity and sustainable development within the towns. As part of that, at the end of the competition every year, each Tidy Towns group receives its adjudicator report. The adjudicators are very mindful when going back to groups to try to encourage them and to identify areas they could improve in biodiversity and sustainability. To their credit, and it is clear to see around the country, the groups are certainly embracing that as part of their work within their towns and villages.