Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

I thank all who have presented on this important topic. We must not forget David Donoghue, of course, because Ireland and Kenya really steered the formulation of the 15 SDGs and did sterling work in this regard. The points Mr. McGeady has just made on how we make the SDGs relatable to everybody, so schoolchildren and councillors in their meeting rooms know what we are talking about, are really important. When thinking about the principle of subsidiarity, everybody should be familiar with the circle, the colours and what they stand for.

When we consider the SDGs, both the global and national aspects come to mind. Globally, we must consider the obvious impact on the SDGs of Donald Trump and the wars in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine, particularly in those parts of the world. There is also a ripple effect right around the world. Maybe the witnesses will comment on that.

Domestically, there are two areas I would like to focus on. We are doing quite well on the social economy and, as mentioned, education. However, with regard to SDG 5, on gender equality, the Women’s Aid report launched this morning indicates the number of calls to the organisation last year went up by 12%, reaching the highest number in its 50-year history. Obviously, we have to be concerned about that. It is an area of considerable concern.

The importance of councils to this work was rightly mentioned. All 31 local authorities have a climate action officer but only 24 have multi-department climate teams, which means seven do not. That has to be a concern. If the awareness and experience in any one area are dependent on how the local authority is doing its work, there are seven areas with quite a big gap. Could the witnesses comment on those points?