Ireland’s first Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan was published in 2018. It provided a framework for Ireland to work towards implementing the SDGs, including through the support of national policies, which contribute to meeting the Goals, and the facilitation of multi-stakeholder participation.

Ireland’s Second SDG National Implementation Plan 2022-2024 was published on 5 October 2022. It was developed in collaboration with all Government Departments, key stakeholders, and based on input from two public consultation processes.

Implementation of the Plan is ongoing.

Ireland’s third National Development Plan is under development and is expected to be launched in 2026. The new Plan will build on the structures and mechanisms set out in the previous plans.

Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment

Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE)

• Fiona McManus (SDGs@dcee.gov.ie)
• Aisling Kirwan (SDGs@dcee.gov.ie)

Coordination across Ministries:

Ireland has taken a whole-of-Government approach to SDG implementation and has established structures at official level to facilitate implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

An SDG Senior Officials’ Group [SOG], made up of senior officials from all Government Departments, has been established to provide strategic coordination and to report as required to Cabinet.

This Group is chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach [Prime Minister], with support of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. 

The group is assisted by an SDG Interdepartmental Working Group [IDWG], again comprised of representatives from all Government Departments. The IDWG is responsible for developing national policy in relation to SDG implementation, preparing Ireland’s VNRs and other SDG reports, and developing national arrangements for stakeholder engagement.

Subnational Coordination:

 Ireland’s political and administrative systems are relatively centralised by international standards, but local also government has a crucial role to play in translating national policies into tangible practical actions that can help to deliver the SDGs at the local and community level. Integrating the SDGs into Local Authority work to better support the localisation of the goals is an important ongoing task. The SDGs were incorporated into the Guidelines for Local Authority Corporate Plans in 2024.

In 2024 and 2025, Ireland participated in a multicountry OECD project with Belgium and Portugal on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD). The outputs from this Project can be viewed at:

OECD Policy Coherence Scan of Ireland (July 2025)

Coordination with stakeholders

Ireland is committed to working in partnership with society to achieve the SDGs and a large emphasis is placed on partnerships for the Goals. Work towards achieving the SDGs will be carried out through international partnerships, partnerships across national and local government, with civil society and communities and with key sectors and groups.

The National Implementation Plan includes a substantial chapter relating to sectoral stakeholder engagement reflecting the contribution of key groups to the SDGs and identifying opportunities for greater partnerships. (the next Plan is under development and due for publication in 2026).The SDG National Stakeholder Forum was established to provide a mechanism for stakeholders to discuss innovative ideas and solutions to further development of the national SDG framework. Including representatives from civil society, NGOs, academia, business, community groups and Government, the Forum aims to facilitate open and inclusive engagement, and develop collaborative partnerships in support of Agenda 2030.

As part of the National Implementation Plan 2022-2024, an SDG Forum Committee was established. Consisting of representation from a wide variety of stakeholder groups, the committee helps to identify the most appropriate forms of collaboration to ensure stakeholders feel a sense of ownership of the forum and can contribute to the successful implementation of Agenda 2030.

A new SDG National Stakeholder Forum Committee has been set up and members appointed for a 24-month period.

Established in 2019, the SDG Champions Programme was developed to raise public awareness of the SDGs and to demonstrate that everyone in society can make a contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

A number of organisations from across the country are appointed annually as ‘SDG Champions’. They  are selected from across the public, private, community, voluntary, youth and NGO sectors and are represented by larger, national organisations and smaller, community groups. More information can be found here.

• Voluntary National Review

Ireland strongly supports stakeholder participation in the 2030 Agenda process and a collaborative and participatory approach was therefore taken when developing the second Voluntary National Review. A number of key initiatives have been progressed to provide national stakeholders with the opportunity to input into Ireland’s 2023 VNR process and to have their voice and assessments captured in the report, including through:

•        Two SDG National Stakeholder Forum meetings, attendance of which was open to all;

•        A specific youth consultation process;

•        The invitation to key stakeholder groups to submit a chapter for inclusion in this report;

•        The invitation for public submissions for inclusion in the compendium of stakeholder contributions in Chapter 9 of this report; and

•        An SDG Junior Art Competition.

• Consultation for the third National Implementation Plan

There will be several phases of consultation for the development of the new National Implementation Plan for the SDGs. An initial phase of consultation took place during the September 2025 National Stakeholder Forum, which consisted of breakout discussions around priorities and ideas for the new Implementation Plan. These inputs have been collated and will help to inform the next plan.

Sustainable Development Goals

Ireland’s whole-of-government approach to implementing the SDGs includes several mechanisms for monitoring and reporting on SDG targets and indicators. Each department is responsible for implementing individual SDG targets related to its area. Ireland’s National Statistics Office - the Central Statistics Office (CSO) - is responsible for identifying and managing the national data needed to meet Ireland's SDG reporting requirements. Collaboration between the CSO, government departments and other organisations is essential to collect the data needed for Ireland's SDG progress reports. This collaboration is formalised by the SDG data governance board (SDG-DGB) which was established to source, develop, and report on the statistical data for the indicators in each of the SDGs and interlinked targets. The SDG-DGB includes members from each government department and meets quarterly to monitor and co-ordinate efforts in this area. Finally, both the SDG-Senior Officials Group and the SDG-Interdepartmental Working Group (IDWG) play a role in identifying priorities and overseeing and monitoring progress.  The CSO acts as the national focal point for SDG data, and through the SDG-DGB, ensures all UN requests for data are completed.

Although the CSO mainly complies with UN targets, it may sometimes adopt EU targets if this is deemed more relevant. Ireland’s progress towards achieving the SDGs is also measured using EU targets and indicators where appropriate. The CSO also publishes the Regional EU Sustainable Development Indicators for Ireland.

In addition, the SDG GeoHive platform is Ireland’s national geospatial data hub, a platform to present data on the progress of its SDG implementation. It contains geospatial and national visualisations for each goal, allowing data to be explored and visualised by geographic location, mapping Ireland's progress against each goal relative to the UN or EU SDG indicators.

https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/unsustainabledevelopmentgoals/

https://irelandsdg.geohive.ie/

In terms of international reporting, Ireland is actively engaged in the follow-up and review process of the 2030 Agenda, including participation in the United Nations High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) and the publication of VNRs, which include CSO report progress data. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE), supported by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), is committed to maintaining high-level political representation at the HLPF, ensuring annual national statements on the SDGs.

• Institutions involved

The CSO collects the data for the reporting process from the relevant national sources across Departments and agencies as outlined above.  

Sustainable Development Goals: Voluntary National Review 2018

Sustainable Development Goals: Voluntary National Review 2023