Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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73. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a disability advocacy group will be considered as one of the listed SDG champions to drive forward SDGs in view of the number of persons living with disability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42281/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I would be more than happy to see a disability advocacy group take up a role as an SDG Champion. An important principle of the Sustainable Development Goals is that no one in society should be left behind or excluded, and the SDG Champions Programme should, therefore, be as representative as possible.

I launched an open call for expressions of interest to take part in Ireland's first SDG Champions Programme in January of this year, and in September I was delighted to announce the 12 organisations which have been selected as Ireland's 2019/2020 SDG Champions.

The call for expressions of interest was open to all organisations in Ireland, including civil society groups and NGOs, and the 12 selected organisations represent a diverse group from the public, private and voluntary sectors who are all engaged with Sustainable Development initiatives.

The term for the 2019/2020 SDG Champions will run until September 2020, and I plan to announce a new group of Champions for 2020/2021 at that time.

I intend to announce a call for expressions of interest in the 2020/21 SDG Champions Programme in early 2020, in order to give organisations sufficient time to apply. That call will again be an open one, to which all organisations will be eligible to apply. I would encourage disability advocacy groups to apply under that call and I will instruct my officials to engage proactively with such organisations to facilitate applications.