On Thursday, 26th April 2018, Minister Denis Naughten unveiled Government's Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan 2018-2020. Social Justice Ireland welcomes this development and the commitment of Government to document the specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to which each current and new Government policy relates, and calls for the addition of an impact assessment for each of those policies in achieving Ireland’s goals and the closing of data gaps to support the development of an achievable SDG strategy.
Following up on Social Justice Ireland’s Sustainable Progress Index, we publish our report monitoring Ireland’s progress towards each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and call on Government to ensure that achieving the SDGs is a key consideration for future policy-making, to identify to which SDG each new policy relates and document how that policy will support Ireland to achieve its goals.
The Government has today published its National Reform Programme 2018, as submitted to the European Commission. In informing this process Social Justice Ireland submitted two papers to the Department of An Taoiseach - our comprehensive Europe2020 report and our analysis on the Country Specific Recommendations set out in the 2018 Country Report for Ireland.
Social Justice Ireland, as part of our work with Coalition2030, recently submitted our Sustainable Progress Index to inform its report on Ireland's performance under the Sustainable Development Goals. Our Index monitors Ireland’s performance under each of the 17 SDGs, using data collected on 53 indicators, and ranks that performance against the EU15 countries. We then provide a list of policy recommendations and considerations for Government based on the evidence gathered.
Ireland is performing in the bottom half of 15 similar European countries on a range of important UN backed indicators covering Economy, Environment and Society. Measuring Progress: Economy, Society and Environment in Ireland puts Ireland’s overall ranking in the Sustainable Progress Index at 11th out of our peer countries in the EU 15.
Social Justice Ireland marks UN World Day of Social Justice each year with a seminar looking at Ireland's progress to date in meeting our responsibilities under the Global Goals. You can view video footage of the seminar here.
While the economy is doing well, it is crucial that policy-makers realise that many on lower incomes are not benefiting as they should. Almost 800,000 people in Ireland are living in poverty, a quarter of a million of whom are children. 1 million people in Ireland are experiencing deprivation. 105,000 people are working in a job with income so low they are living in poverty. Social Justice Ireland has a plan to fix this, and to build a fairer society for all.
The National Social Monitor is Social Justice Ireland’s annual contribution to the public debate that is needed on Ireland’s future and how Ireland is performing in terms of promoting the wellbeing of all in society. It examines progress in areas such as housing, healthcare, education, employment, rural development and the environment among others.
Ireland’s social contract is broken. The legitimate expectations of citizens are not being met. This is most obvious in areas such as housing and homelessness, a two-tier healthcare system, an ongoing failure to provide rural broadband and high levels of poverty and social exclusion, especially among children. 2017 is the first year of a new century for Ireland and now is the perfect opportunity to develop a new and radical social contract for Ireland’s second century.
The Sustainable Progress Index measures Ireland's progress on the SDG's over time compared to the other countries in the EU 15. It measures progress on economy, society and the environment.
