Ms Michelle Murphy:

We have been producing this index for a number of years. The SDGs are not permeating the consciousness at all, so we have been trying to find a way of progressing that slightly. We looked at the well-being framework because it is one of those areas that the Government reports on every year and, like social impact assessments, is meant to be a part of the budgetary process. One hopes that, in the long run, we will see an SDG impact assessment along the lines of what the Senator mentioned. It would bring us to the point of making SDGs applicable to people’s lives. The dimensions are: subjective well-being mental and physical health; knowledge and skills; housing and local area; safety and security; work and job quality; community; social connections; and so on. These are matters to which people can relate, so it is a question of trying to make the SDGs more relatable while also trying to progress them in terms of seeing improved outcomes. Of course, the new Government will have different priorities, but we ultimately want to see progress on all of the goals.

The Senator mentioned some matters that would see us negating progress, for example, the pension relief. The budget also contained a universal energy credit. It does not progress the reduction of energy poverty. Where the allocation of resources is concerned, different decisions could be made around affordable and clean energy. Energy poverty is one of the indicators measured, as are emissions from our energy system, so we have a long road to go.

An SDG impact assessment could be implemented.

The CSO is doing work on ecosystem accounting, which is another way of natural capital accounting. It looks at what that adds to the economy overall but also what leads to reductions in quality in our ecosystems such as reduced biodiversity and reduced air and water quality. Those are seen as a cost to the State and should be accounted for as a cost. Ecosystems accounts becoming part of economic and fiscal reporting is one way to measure it. We have a long way to go but trying to link it to the well-being framework was a means for us to make it applicable to people so one can tell them this is going to improve their housing and the built environment around them. It makes it easier particularly for councillors and county councils to engage on this because it is the councils that have to produce mitigation plans for local areas and communities. They will be responsible for progressing a lot of these measures, whereas the budget line for a lot of them comes from central government. To Mr. Talbot's point, there is the disconnect between resourcing and knowledge.