Ms Susanne Rogers:

With regard to local authorities, it is about subsidiarity and where decisions are made. We are very centralised. The sustainable development goals are a policy for all people. They are like the movie "Everything Everywhere All At Once". This is what is important. It goes back to the siloed approach and policy coherence that my colleagues have touched on. The difficulty from the point of view of local authorities is the types of decisions that are made at local authority level, where they sit with the types of policy decisions made at national level and where they interact.

Digital disadvantage has been mentioned. Broadband is a national roll-out and the local authorities have limited room for manoeuvring. Internet connectivity throughout the country is at 94% but it is 92% in Dublin, 86% in the mid-east region, 77% in the Border region and 79% in the midlands.

As one moves across the country, there is a disparity in delivery of services. That is the difficulty. Then again, it ties into this whole issue of tying it all together on a national level. Even services such as waste management-----