Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 to 11, inclusive, together.

The sustainable development goals, SDGs, adopted in 2015, are the United Nations blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all by 2030. They address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.

Under the programme for Government, the Government is committed to continue work towards the 17 goals. This is a whole-of-government effort, led by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, who has lead responsibility for promoting and overseeing the coherent implementation of the SDGs. The implementation of measures associated with individual goals is the responsibility of relevant Ministers and Departments. Political oversight is provided through the Cabinet committee system and, where necessary, at Government level.

A senior officials group, chaired by my Department and supported by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, provides a mechanism to co-ordinate and monitor progress towards the goals. It brings together representatives of all Departments responsible for implementation.

In addition to monitoring implementation, it provides strategic input on tasks including development of Ireland's national implementation plan, the second iteration of which was published in October. It will also support preparation of Ireland's second voluntary national review of progress towards the goals, which is due for delivery at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum in July 2023. The group's work is supported by an interdepartmental working group, chaired by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, and by the Central Statistics Office's data governance board.

The Government's vision is for Ireland to fully implement the SDGs at home and to contribute to their achievement in order so that no one is left behind. I was pleased, therefore, to launch Ireland's second national implementation plan for the SDGs along with the Tánaiste, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and other Government Ministers on 5 October 2022. The plan sets out Ireland's implementation strategy until 2024 and is focused on ensuring that the goals are better integrated into our work across Government, and more widely across local government. It sets out five key strategic objectives and 51 actions, involving 119 individual measures, to significantly increase Ireland's ambition and strengthen our implementation. Implementation of the goals is both a domestic and international priority.

I was pleased to meet with the President of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, at the UN General Assembly high-level week in September and to agree to his request that Ireland take on the role of co-facilitator of the political declaration for a UN SDG summit to be held in New York in September 2024. Ireland is deeply engaged in the elaboration and adoption of the goals. In that context, I very much welcome this opportunity for Ireland to play an ongoing role as we approach the mid-point in the journey to implementation by 2030. As I highlighted in my address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, progress made in implementing the goals in previous years has stalled, or in some cases gone into reverse, more recently as we have grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic, increased natural disasters and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, including for food security. It is all the more important, therefore, that governments redouble their efforts ahead of the summit in 2024 and in the years remaining to 2030.

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