Mr. David Rossiter:

I will touch on a couple of the points. On the question on making the SDGs more relatable, I will take this opportunity to mention Coalition 2030’s SDG campaign that it is going to try to launch later this year, potentially in September during SDG week. The approach of the campaign is not to tell people not to forget about the 17 goals; rather, it will focus on the work our 70 members are doing to achieve the goals. We will be talking to Concern, Trócaire and Social Justice Ireland, for example, and ascertaining how their work is contributing to the achievement of the goals. We will be telling the stories of the work our members are doing in the communities and showing, for example, what the work of Women’s Aid means for SDG target 5. As we move into the final period of the SDGs and Agenda 2030, we really need to focus less on awareness-raising and more on the practical dimension, including the question of how the goals have an impact on one’s life.

On the wider geopolitical changes and some of the regression we might see, the coalition has a serious concern over some of the aid cuts we are seeing in the international development sector and what will occur if the sector shrinks. We have really great members working in that area, and these include Trócaire, Concern and Christian Aid. When I start name-dropping, I will be in trouble for not mentioning everybody. The members’ work will be reduced because of the cuts, which means much of the serious work on zero poverty and zero hunger overseas will see a regression. Governments that want to put forward a more open, inclusive and progressive vision for what geopolitics can be need to step up to the plate. The SDGs offer the policy framework to do so.

On the council side, it is probably worth flagging that there is an SDG champion programme run by the SDG unit in the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. A council can apply to become an SDG champion and get some resources from the Department to roll out some programmes locally to increase awareness of SDGs. If the Senator is still in contact with any of her local councillor colleagues, she should feel free to flag the programme with them. It has just opened, so any council that has not applied should consider doing so.