Dr. Lorna Gold:

I thank Mr. Sheehan. I believe members will agree on what was achieved by Dóchas in 2015. There was a phenomenal amount of activity involved in engaging and informing citizens on the issues of global development. This obviously was not an end in itself, as the basic principle behind the activity was that engaged informed citizenship will enable the political and policy change required to achieve and implement the sustainable development goals. While that job is far from over, we made a positive start in 2015 in achieving this aim. The promises made at the summit in 2015 must now be translated into action and in particular, there is a strong European Union dimension to so doing.

As already outlined, three major United Nations summits were held during the year, which effectively should now define the parameters for international policy-making for the next 15 years. I say "should" because obviously, there are other issues that determine and influence policy-making. However, the three summits held last year, namely, the summit on financing for development held in Addis Ababa in July, the sustainable development goals summit held in New York in September and the COP 21 climate change conference, at which agreement was reached in Paris in December, should set a solid basis for directing us towards sustainable development and addressing in particular the challenge of climate change. In September, at the United Nations in New York, 193 countries joined forces to agree a pathway towards sustainable development for our world by adopting the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. This framework of 17 sustainable development goals provides measurable social and economic objectives to which all countries are now obliged to adhere.

The former framework for action is to be implemented universally taking into account the actual realities as starting points for each individual member of the United Nations. The goals are universal in nature and will not be deemed to have been achieved if not achieved by all countries. They are interdependent and cross-sectoral and have implications for all aspects of policy-making. They will respect and take into account existing national policy priorities and plans and are supported by a set of 169 indicators, which represent the monitoring framework.

In Paris in December a total of 195 countries agreed to the first ever universal legally binding global climate deal. In July in Addis Ababa the UN financing for development conference took place. In a strange way, it superseded the other two, but it is an absolutely essential element of the means to achieve the sustainable development goals on climate change. The conference concluded an international agreement on how the agreements would be financed. The agreements have significant policy consequences for Ireland's development in several key policy areas such as energy, agriculture, the environment, inequality, women's rights and human rights in general.

As NGOs working with the most vulnerable, Dóchas members are proud of the role Ireland played. In particular, during the sustainable development conference Ireland acted as one of the co-facilitators of the UN deal. At a European level Ireland worked on the co-facilitation of the UN negotiations. Dóchas members actively contributed to the UN and European level negotiations prior to and during 2015, feeding in specific policy recommendations. We were also part of the various Government delegations attending the conferences. A key focus for Dóchas members is to establish and sustain ongoing engagement at European level and with the Government towards implementation of the sustainable development goals, as well as a review of the relevant policies required to align our existing policy priorities with the sustainable development goals.

At European level some significant changes and reviews need to take place to address the consistency of European policy-making on the sustainable development goals. I wish to highlight some of them. In a sense, I have to take us away from a business as usual approach. One priority in achieving the sustainable development goals must involve a review of the climate and energy 2030 package. The 40% target, within the European climate and energy package, is in no way ambitious enough to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius target set in Paris. The Commissioner has said this issue will not be revisited until a new Commission is in place in 2018. From our perspective, that is far too late and sets the European Union back by five to ten years in addressing its emissions.

The second area of policy that comes within the achievement of the sustainable development goals and which needs to be reviewed is the transatlantic trade and investment partnership process. In fact, I appeared before the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation yesterday to specifically address concerns about TTIP. Its review, in the light of the policy coherence obligations under the Lisbon treaty, is essential.

We know that migration is becoming an increasingly serious issue at European level. Unless it is taken into account, in particular, with implementation of the Valletta summit recommendations and the controversial EU trust fund for Africa, the sustainable development goals will not be achieved.