Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 June 2023
159. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he has read the recent report by an organisation (details supplied) which calls for urgent political leadership from Government by moving the sustainable development goals unit from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to the Department of the Taoiseach; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29275/23]
View answerI am aware of this report which builds on a chapter that Coalition 2030 were invited to contribute to Ireland’s 2023 Voluntary National Review (VNR) which I look forward to delivering at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum in July.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a significant and ambitious framework. A whole-of-Government approach to implementation has been taken in Ireland. My Department leads on the delivery of 19 SDG targets: 3.9; 7.1; 7.2; 7.3; 8.4; 9.4; 11.6; 12.1; 12.2; 12.4; 12.5; 12.8; 12.c; 13.1; 13.2; 13.3; 13.a; 17.14 and 17.17.
Ireland’s Second National Implementation Plan for the SDGs, 2022 – 2024 was published in October 2022. The Plan was developed by my Department in collaboration with all Government Departments and key stakeholders and was also based on input from two public consultation processes. A key objective of the Plan is to achieve greater policy coherence for sustainable development with the aim of accelerating achievement of the SDGs at all levels of Government.
The Plan is supplemented by two supporting documents: an SDG policy map which identifies the lead Departments and relevant national policies for each of the 169 SDG targets; and a Policy Update document for each of the SDG targets. These documents are available at www.gov.ie/sdgs.
The Central Statistics Office, in collaboration with all Government Departments, has prepared as series of statistical publications which monitor and report on how Ireland is progressing towards meeting its targets under the 17 SDGs.
I am satisfied that this ‘whole-of-government’ approach to implementing the SDGs is working by effectively embedding a framework into national and local government work to ensure a coherent system-wide approach, as well as greater dialogue and joined-up thinking between policy makers across sectors.
