The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.
SDG 1.a.1 Total official development assistance grants from all donors is measured by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The SDG Indicators Metadata Repository defines SDG 1.a.1 metadata as:
Total official development assistance (ODA) grants from all donors that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the recipient country’s gross national income. The OECD/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) defines ODA as “flows to countries and territories on the DAC List of ODA Recipients and to multilateral institutions which are
Poverty reduction items can be defined as ODA to basic social services (basic health, basic education, basic water and sanitation, population programmes and reproductive health) and developmental food aid.
Summary information from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Irish Aid Annual Report 2022 is presented here.
In 2022, the government of Ireland invested almost €2.3 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA).
This represents 0.63% of Gross National Income (GNI). The figure includes eligible first-year costs of €880 million associated with the provision of services for Ukrainian refugees in Ireland.
Excluding costs relating to Ukrainian refugees, the figure for Ireland’s 2022 ODA is €1.4 billion, representing 0.39% of GNI.
Information provided by the DFA showing data that focus on poverty reduction is shown in Table 7.1. The figures are limited to and disaggregated by the ‘basic’ categories defined. For example, basic education as defined by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Codebook included primary education and basic life skills for youth and adults, but excludes higher education.
Poverty reduction programmes were allocated €94 million in 2022, up from €92.6 million in 2021. Around €21.6 million was allocated to basic education, up from €20.7 million in 2021. Basic health was allocated €65.3 million in 2022, similar to the previous year. Other poverty reduction programmes included population policies/programmes & reproductive health which was allocated €4.4 million in 2022, and water supply & sanitation €2.7 million. See Table 7.1.
SDG 1.a.2 Proportion of total government spending on essential services (education, health and social protection) is published by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENDR).
The SDG Indicators Metadata Repository defines SDG 1.a.2 metadata as:
Custodianship updated as per IAEG-SDGs decision in August 2022 meeting (data and metadata forthcoming).
Estimates on government expenditure are published by the DPENDR and shown in Table 7.2.
Total government expenditure rose from €68.8 billion in 2017 to €105.2 billion in 2021. It is estimated that total government expenditure will be €110.1 billion in 2024. See Table 7.2.
Social protection is estimated to account for 23.2% of total expenditure in 2024, with 20.7% going to health and 13.7% to education. See Table 7.2 and Figure 7.1.
| Total Government Spending | No Entry Here | No Entry Here | No Entry Here | No Entry Here | No Entry Here | |
| Health | 20.7 | |||||
| Education | 13.7 | |||||
| Social Protection | 23.2 | |||||
| Other | 42.4 |
SDG 1.b.1 Pro-poor public social spending is provided by the Department of Rural and Community Development (DRCD).
The SDG Indicators Metadata Repository defines SDG 1.b.1 metadata as:
Proportion of government spending towards which benefit directly the monetary poor in health, education and direct transfers. Government spending measures public expenditures on health and education services. Direct transfers refer to cash transfers and near-cash transfers. The definition of the monetary poor follows national standards, with poverty levels determined by national definition of income or consumption poverty (consistent with SDG 1.2.1).
Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) aims to tackle poverty and social exclusion at a local level and Community Enhancement Programme (CEP) enhances facilities in disadvantaged areas.
The funding for SICAP was €39.1 million in both 2020 and 2021 and rose to €43.1 million in 2022 and €44.4 million in 2023.
There was €6 million allocated to CEP in 2023, a drop from €10 million in 2022. See Table 7.3.
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