SDGs News from Ireland: Parliamentarians for the Global Goals

By SDG Watch Europe

The positive vision & blueprint offered by the SDGs are more important than ever in a time of global crisis.  Senator Alice-Mary Higgins launched the Oireachtas All-Party Parliamentary Group on the SDGs as part of the launch of Parliamentarians for the Global Goals (PfGG) at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this year.  PfGG is a new initiative by and for parliamentarians to promote the SDGs through parliamentary actions around the world. The group will be working to implement the SDGs in bringing together the environment, equality, society, economy and culture and which offer a shared and transformative vision of what it might look like to live together on this planet. 

“Our Group on the SDG’s is part of Parliamentarians for the Global Goals, a wider network of public representatives from across the world driving the decade of action on the SDGs I was glad to give one of international testimonies to mark UN launch of the PfGG”, Senator Higgins remarked. 

2030beyond is a non-profit do-tank for the 2030 Agenda, supporting Parliamentarians and people to accelerate action for the Sustainable Development Goals.

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Marc O’Casathaigh, Green Party TD & Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the SDGs, introduced a proposal to the Dáil Reform Committee that the SDGs be enshrined in the Standing Orders of the committees, which was adopted.  As a result, the SDGs will now be enshrined in all of the committees programmes of work.  SDGs targets will be mapped onto the work of the specific/relevant  committees.  

Key functions of the committees are: 

•         Legislation – scrutiny of draft legislation in advance of its publication or before Committee Stage; consideration and amending of Bills on Committee Stage; and consideration of draft EU legislative proposals. 
•         Scrutinising the work of Government Departments – Ministers appear before Oireachtas committees to answer questions concerning all policy, expenditure and governance matters regarding their Departments.
•         Advising on policy issues – seeking submissions from and holding hearings with third parties; and conducting off-site visits and drafting reports outlining the committee’s findings and recommendations with a view to influencing policy decisions or legislation.

There are calls to align the SDGs into county development plans and to urge the relevant committees to start with hearings to critically consider the coherence among the SDGs.