Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. In July, I presented Ireland's first national review of the SDGs to the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Following the adoption of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, including the 17 SDGs, by UN member states in 2015, the forum was designated as the central platform for the follow-up and review of the 2030 agenda at global level.

The presentation of the review fulfilled one of the committed actions under Ireland's Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan 2018-2020, which I published in April 2018. The plan sets out how the Government will implement the SDGs at home and support countries around the world to do the same.

The review provided a comprehensive overview of Ireland's progress towards meeting each of the 17 SDGs and of how Ireland was supporting the SDGs' global achievement. An important secondary aim was to establish a baseline for Ireland's future SDG reporting. The review was evidence based, using the EU SDG indicator set developed by EUROSTAT, with corresponding national data for Ireland provided by the CSO.

The review demonstrated how every Department across the Government was contributing to achieving the SDGs, but it also made clear that Ireland still had work to do in order to become a truly sustainable society. Specifically, the review identifies Ireland's strengths in respect of those SDGs dealing with education, health, economic growth, innovation, certain environmental issues, and the enjoyment of a peaceful and safe society. However, we also face challenges in many areas, including addressing high levels of obesity, meeting our national poverty targets, achieving sustainable consumption and production, protecting our marine and terrestrial habitats, and achieving full gender equality in Irish society.

Both the review and my presentation to the UN drew attention to housing and homelessness and climate action as major challenges facing Ireland. As part of my presentation, I invited Ireland's two UN youth delegates for 2017 to 2018 to address the forum and to provide their perspectives on how the sustainable development goals, SDGs, are being implemented in Ireland. I did so because many of the SDGs are highly relevant to Irish young people's daily lives and demonstrate Ireland's ongoing commitment to involving stakeholders in the SDG process.

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