Reflecting the fact that the SDGs belong to everybody, the Irish Government is committed to working in partnership with society to achieve the SDGs. The SDG National Implementation Plan 2022-2024 places a large emphasis 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 new chapter relating to sectoral stakeholder engagement reflecting the contribution of key groups to the SDGs and identifying opportunities for greater partnerships. It is intended that this chapter and the groups included therein will be developed further in subsequent iterations of the Implementation Plan (the next Plan is due at the end of 2024).

The national SDG 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 will be established to redesign an improved Forum format based on Stakeholder feedback. Consisting of representation from all stakeholder groups, the committee will help 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 12-month period. The Committee consists of representation from a wide variety of stakeholder groups and will assist in redesigning an improved, more accessible and more inclusive SDG National Stakeholder Forum format. DECC hosted successful SDG National Stakeholder Forums in January, April 2023 with the next iteration due to take place in November. For the 2023-2024 Programme, 26 champions have been selected, consisting of 22 newly appointed organisations, along with four former SDG Champions who have chosen to continue the role cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic. Champions have been 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.

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

Ireland has opened its call for expressions of interest in the 2023 SDG Champions Programme. As part of the 2023 programme, 20 organisations and groups from across the country will be appointed 'SDG Champions' to raise public awareness of the SDGs and to demonstrate, through example, that everyone in society can make a contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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.