Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697749856668.pdf (Ireland)
Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands (CSPCRDI) Opening Statement Meaghan Carmody, Coordinator, Coalition 2030 28th June 2023 Chairman Naughten, Deputies and Senators, Coalition 2030 is grateful for the invitation to address you today on matters relating to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals or ‘SDGs’.
In 2015, all 193 UN member states signed up to Agenda 2030, and committed to progressing its 17 Goals, 169 targets and over 230 indicators.1 Agenda 2030 is aimed at ending poverty in all its forms, and envisages “a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination”.
It is grounded in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and international human rights treaties, and emphasises the responsibilities of all states to respect, protect and promote human rights.

Two underlying principles of the agenda are to leave no one behind and to reach the furthest behind, first.

We are now halfway through the Agenda 2030 implementation period, and urgent action from all departments is required if we are to achieve the SDGs.
On July 19th Ireland will formally address the UN as it for the second time outlines the country’s progress to date on sustainable development for scrutiny and peer-review.

We are also, along with Qatar, co-facilitating the development of a Political Declaration for the SDGs which will be agreed this Summer and unveiled at the SDG Summit in September under the auspices of the UN General Assembly.
This has been described by the UN Secretary General as the ‘rescue plan’ for the SDGs, as only 12% of the targets are on track to be achieved globally.2 Ireland has made significant strides in terms of national governance of the SDGs.
Particularly relevant to this Committee is that the 2022 Policy Map names lead departments for the achievement of specific SDG targets, and this includes both the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Rural and Community Development.3 However, we have identified three issues that are particularly relevant to the DSP and DRCD.
1 Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 2 Advance, unedited 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report 3 2022 SDG Policy Map Coalition 2030, MACRO Centre, Dublin 7.

Tel: 083 199 3941 │email: meaghan@coalition2030.ie │Web: www.ireland2030.org 1 Firstly, the availability of appropriate data to adequately enable accountability hinders the effectiveness of the Policy Map.

Disaggregated data is required at the indicator level in order to ascertain progress.
We would encourage this Committee to seek that data at the SDG indicator level from its respective departments, as well as evidence conveying the trend in progress.

Crucially, merely noting the existence of policies is not sufficient to assess progress.

Secondly, the Policy map is too narrow in how it ascribes responsibilities to DSP under Goal 8.
Particularly, DSP should have more responsibility for achieving target 8.5,4 as DSP is responsible for the roll out of the Pathways to Work Strategy 2021-2025 and Strand 4 of the Strategy is ‘Working for All - Leaving No one Behind.’ Thirdly, we have also identified a serious communication error relevant to this Committee which, if not addressed, risks misrepresenting our SDG progress.
In Ireland’s Voluntary National Review or ‘VNR’, it is stated that we are ‘achieving’ SDG 1, No Poverty.5 This may be true if we are using indicator 1.1.1, the "Proportion of the population living below the international poverty line [of $1.25] by sex, age, employment status and geographical location (urban/rural)".

However, this is nationally irrelevant .

There is broad agreement that the UN measure of people living on less than $1.25 a day is meaningless for people living in Ireland.
Nevertheless, in our VNR summary report, the CSO looked at this pure UN target and the progress conveyed was based on this ‘meaningless’ indicator for Ireland.

Additionally, the $1.25 figure is outdated and was updated to $2.15 in 2022 by the World Bank.
Indeed, the World Bank as ‘the custodian of SDG 1.1’, has adopted the $2.15 figure for monitoring SDG 1.1.6 The claim that we are achieving no poverty also implies that Ireland is achieving the other SDG 1 targets which we encourage you to scrutinise.7 However, we are of course not achieving no poverty, and the furthest behind are not being reached.
To be more explicit: ● People suffering health issues: According to the most recent SILC, one in five persons unable to work due to long-standing health problems are living in consistent poverty.8 ● Renters: Renters are more likely to be in poverty than owner-occupiers, and while less than 30% of the population are living in rented or rent-free accommodation, such people make up over 70% of those living in consistent poverty.
● Older people: The ‘at risk of poverty’ rate in persons ages 65 or over increased from 11.9% in 2021 to 19.0% in 2022.

● One-parent families: The ‘at risk of poverty’ rate for individuals in households with one adult and one or more children aged under 18 (so called one parent families) was 23.8%, compared with 13.1% of persons living in two adult households with 1-3 children.
In other words, nearly 1 in 4 one-parent families are at risk of poverty, and the deprivation rate for this cohort is shocking at almost 45%.
4 ‘By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value 5 Ireland’s 2023 Voluntary National Review 6 Fact Sheet: An Adjustment to Global Poverty Lines 7 SDG 1 No Poverty: Targets and Indicators 8 2022 SILC Key Findings Coalition 2030, MACRO Centre, Dublin 7.
Tel: 083 199 3941 │email: meaghan@coalition2030.ie │Web: www.ireland2030.org 2 ● Unemployed people: Almost half of those who are unemployed (48.6%) experience deprivation and almost 1 in 5 (18%) are in consistent poverty.

● Official statistics do not reflect poverty levels among some of our most marginalised groups, including ethnic minorities such as migrants, Traveller and Roma and those who are homeless.
● Rural communities: Income inadequacy is higher for people in rural areas than urban, especially for those in receipt of core social welfare payments and those in low-paid or minimum wage employment.
The level of inflation being experienced at present is “higher for lower-income, older and rural households” largely because of their transport and energy dependencies.9 With very little public transport available to people in rural areas, those on lower incomes who are dependent on their car are disproportionately affected.10 The dependency on the car by rural households has also meant they have not benefited from reduced prices in public transport but have faced increases in the price of petrol and diesel.
Further, with the lack of a decent public transport system in rural areas, older people and disabled people are often reliant on a car.

● Rural households are more at risk of energy poverty due to limited opportunities to switch to cheaper fuels.

Additionally, 42% of the rural building stock is relatively old, built before 1980.
Older homes are typically less energy efficient and have higher fuel bills than modern homes.11 ● Charities, community groups, voluntary organisations, and social enterprises reach the furthest behind in every community in the country — in areas like health and disability, social care, education, housing, poverty relief, the arts, sport and international development.

The state depends on the community and voluntary sector as part of its strategy for delivering essential services and developing communities.
However, funding arrangements often do not reflect this reality, which creates challenges for both service delivery and staff retention.

In particular, funding must be increased for supporting basic digital skills and digital literacy programmes, the lack of which disproportionately affects those furthest behind.12 ● Overall, the percentage of people at risk of poverty increased from 11.6% in 2021 to 13.2% in 2022.
17.7% of Ireland’s population is in deprivation, up from 13.8% in 2021, and the levels of people in consistent poverty are at 5.3%, up from 4%.

The Government’s target for poverty reduction is to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less by 2025, the same target having been missed under the previous Government Strategy for 2016.
In our report, ‘Furthest behind First or Falling behind Further: The human stories that challenge Ireland’s claims to be leaving no one behind’, we make the case that the State has so far failed to effectively embed the SDGs across Government and provide the necessary political leadership for their achievement.13 This is deeply relevant to this Committee, because as a result, rather than reaching first the people who require the most support, instead the State has left these people behind.
The State must do the following in order to address SDG governance issues and enable all departments to reach the furthest behind first: 1) Move overall responsibility for SDG implementation to the 9 Energy poverty and deprivation in Ireland 10 Submission to Department of Social Protection Statement of Strategy 2023-2026 11 Ireland - Rural Energy Data 12 Submission to Department of Social Protection Statement of Strategy 2023-2026 13 Report: Furthest behind First or Falling behind Further: The human stories that challenge Ireland’s claims to be leaving no one behind, Coalition 2030, April 2023 Coalition 2030, MACRO Centre, Dublin 7.
Tel: 083 199 3941 │email: meaghan@coalition2030.ie │Web: www.ireland2030.org 3 Department of the Taoiseach, 2) Integrate the SDGs into the budget, with every budget line linked to an SDG target, and invest at least €15 million in the 2024 Budget towards SDG disaggregated data collection, 3) Create a national SDG Policy Impact Measurement Framework and enable the Enable the PPNs and communities to be true partners in policy design and SDGs implementation, 4) Measure what matters by resourcing the CSO to collect relevant, disaggregated, and timely data which would inform policies to reach the furthest behind first (the lack of which is a current obstacle to SDG measurement) and 5) Establish on a statutory footing the position of Future Generations Commissioner, whose mandate will be to ensure that no actions today undermine the sustainable future of generations to come.
Given the Voluntary National Review process is an international peer-review process, honesty is paramount.

We therefore encourage this Committee to scrutinise future claims relating to its departments’ progress and how efforts to date are communicated to the Irish public and internationally.

We strongly suggest that your departments ensure that nationally relevant data is employed in our national SDG assessments.
There now exists an opportunity for this, as the CSO are currently working with DECC to look at targets in an Irish context.

We encourage you to ensure your departments actively engage with the process.

We must measure what matters, and employ more useful data in order to reach the furthest behind first in our society.
Without shifts in our approach to measurement, as well as other elements of governance, we believe that the State will continue to struggle to reach the furthest behind first, rendering delivery on the SDGs categorically unachievable.

We are living through the last best chance to achieve the SDGs, and your Committee has a crucial role to play.

I will now hand back to you Chair, and my colleagues and I would welcome questions and comments.
Annex 1: Actions and targets for relevant line departments Actions for all Departments As per the National Implementation Plan, from now on: 1.

All Departments must include a commitment to Agenda 2030 in all new Statements of Strategy (Action 11a).

2.

On an ongoing basis, all Departments must make reference to the SDGs and targets for which it is the lead (Action 11a).

Each Department should ensure an SDG point of contact is made publicly available (Section 3.1.4).

3.

4.
3.

4.

All Departments must from now on include updates on SDG activities and progress including at the target level in Departmental Annual Reports (Action 12a).

2022 Policy Map Targets The Department of Social Protection is the lead for achieving the following targets: 1.

2.

3.
2.

3.

Target 1.2: By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions Target 1.3: Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable Target 8.6: By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training Coalition 2030, MACRO Centre, Dublin 7.
Tel: 083 199 3941 │email: meaghan@coalition2030.ie │Web: www.ireland2030.org 4 4.

5.
5.

Target 10.1: By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population at a rate higher than the national average Target 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships14 The Department of Rural and Community Development is the lead for achieving the following targets: 1.

2.
2.

Target 16.7: Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels Target 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships15 National Implementation Plan for the SDGs 2022 - 2024: The DRCD must: 1.

Action 41: Support and facilitate the promotion and integration of the SDGs into the work of the PPNs 2.
Action 44: Work with DECC and the LGMA to raise the profile and understanding of the SDGs across public libraries 3.
Action 45: Support with the development, launch and showcasing of an annual SDG week to be held in September in libraries across the country to mark the anniversary of Agenda 2030 Annex 2: Work Programmes of Select Committees: Motion16 "It shall be an instruction to each Select Committee appointed pursuant to Standing Order 95 that the work programme provided for in Standing Order 100(4) shall include the consideration of such aspects of— (a) the State’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic; (b) science, research and development and innovation; and (c) progress on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as are within the scope of the Committee’s orders of reference as set out in Standing Orders.” 14 All departments are the lead for this target.
15 All departments are the lead for this target.

16 https://www.kildarestreet.com/debate/?id=2020-07-30a.689 Coalition 2030, MACRO Centre, Dublin 7.

Tel: 083 199 3941 │email: meaghan@coalition2030.ie │Web: www.ireland2030.org 5