Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This morning I launched the corporate social responsibility check for 2019, Towards Responsible Business: Ireland's National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility 2017-2020. There is a major focus on climate change now and how companies can embrace it. It is also attractive for companies that have a good corporate social responsibility set-up because. These companies find that people who want to work with them want to be assured that the company is committed to the environment. They want assurance that the company they are going to work with has a positive environmental record. We find that businesses want to know that other businesses with which they do business have a good environmental record.

We had a good launch earlier in Smock Alley Theatre. There was a gathering from across the sectors, including representatives from private industry, State agencies and the various people who are involved in corporate social responsibility. I expect we will hear more about it. Companies that have engaged in corporate social responsibility are more profitable and it is better for them. That is becoming clearer as well.

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