Research has been carried out previously in Ireland concerning well-being, including the NESC report– “Well-being Matters: A Social Report for Ireland”. This report identifies people as being at the centre of economic and social progress, and highlights the limitations of GDP as a measure of society. Members of the Whitaker Institute in the National University of Ireland, Galway, have also carried out much work on the development of a set of societal well-being indicators for Ireland.
In 2018 the CSO published The Wellbeing of the Nation. This new publication, with over 30 indicators across eight areas of society, attempts to address the question how do people feel about their lives as a whole. Commenting on the data, Statistician Damien Lenihan said: “This publication attempts to measure wellbeing, which is influenced by many factors including the economic conditions of the country, the health of its population, and the educational attainment of its people”.
The CSO also produces a range of other key wellbeing related reports on social, health, environmental and economic indicators as well as work related to the SDGs.
The Department of Communication, Climate Action and Environment has been assigned responsibility for preparing Ireland’s first SDG National Implementation Plan and the Voluntary National Review (VNR). The first National Implementation Plan was published in early 2018. The Plan sets out arrangements for interdepartmental coordination, stakeholder engagement and periodic progress reporting at national and global levels. Ireland’s first VNR was submitted to the UN in June 2018, and formally presented to the High-level Political Forum at the UN Headquarters in New York in July 2018. These reports can be found here.
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