In July, Ireland will present its Voluntary National Review to the UN, in advance of the SDG Summit in September. Back in May, Coalition 2030 published its parallel review ‘Furthest behind First, or Falling behind Further? The human stories that challenge Ireland’s claims to be leaving no one behind ’. This provides a counter-view to the Irish government’s own assessment of how Ireland is doing on the SDGs.
‘Coalition 2030 is an alliance of 70 civil society organisations from the international development, environmental, anti-poverty and trade union sectors working together to ensure Ireland keeps its promise to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) both in Ireland, and abroad’
This Coalition is now advocating for the adoption of the five key structural asks in its parallel review report. It will continue to do so in the lead-up to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July, where it is sending a delegation, and at the SDG Summit in September.
The Coalition believes these are the five structural recommendations which, if implemented, would bring Ireland closer to delivering on the SDGs:
- Move SDG responsibility and delivery to the Department of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and away from the Department of the Environment
- Provide a budget for the SDGs
- ‘SDG-proof policy’
- ‘Measure what matters’
- Establish the office of a statutory ‘Future Generations Commissioner’
Coalition 2030 argues via this report that, although the State has been an influential advocate for the SDGs internationally, that Ireland’s commitment and progress domestically is not as obvious.
They argue that the State has so far failed to effectively embed the SDGs across the Government and provide the necessary political leadership for their achievement. Without dramatic shifts in policy-making, the State will continue to struggle to reach the furthest behind first, rendering delivery on the SDGs categorically unachievable.
Coalition 2030 Illustrates its five recommendations with an overview of the international and national contexts for delivering on the SDGs. It provides a statistical overview of those who are being left behind and includes a number of case studies. Each case study is used to highlight which specific policy options would enable the State to reach these people, if they were implemented.
You can read the report in full here.
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