Ms Hannah Gilmartin:

There are a number of points I could touch upon. Strategic objective No. 1 of our national implementation plan is to better integrate the SDGs into the work of Departments to ensure greater policy coherence in respect of sustainable development. A number of steps are envisaged to progress this objective. First, we are going to incorporate the SDGs into administrative and accountability frameworks across Government. Under the plan, which has been agreed by Government, the SDGs will be incorporated into regulatory impact assessments, memoranda to Government and the budgetary process. At the moment, we are carrying out the research for that step. It is being grappled with by our European counterparts so we are researching best practice, how other countries have done it and the best way for us to do it. In respect of the budgetary process, the well-being framework is going to be incorporated into the process. If the approach taken to the well-being framework proves effective, we will follow suit with the SDGs. It is very much in train. We are putting together research and recommendations at the moment.

The question of Departments looking at all SDGs relates to another step we are progressing in respect of strategic objective No. 1, which is to build capacity across the Civil Service to raise awareness and knowledge of how to use the framework provided by the SDGs. We will be developing an SDG training course and toolkit. We recently purchased a licence for an SDG assessment tool, which has proved very popular. We have used it for the climate action plan. That will help people realise that their policies do not only touch on one or two main SDG targets. There are 169 and we will actually be progressing a whole breadth of them. We are working towards a position at which we will have a high-level view of how policies and implementation are impacting the SDGs both positively and negatively and whether they are considering the three dimensions of sustainable development, that is, the economic, social and environmental dimensions. We are going that way but there are a number of steps to be taken.

As a final point, we will be commencing a project with the OECD in September. This is a multi-country project involving three other European countries and which relates to policy coherence. We will be developing a policy coherence action plan as part of that project. It is very much a priority for us.