In 2017 the government published Towards Responsible Business: Ireland’s 2nd National Plan on Corporate Social Responsibility 2017-2020 which was developed in consultation with the chairperson and members of the CSR Stakeholders Forum.
The National Plan sets out a vision that “Ireland will be recognised as a Centre of Excellence for responsible and sustainable business practice through the adoption and implementation of best practice in CSR in enterprises and organisations as widely as possible.”
The Government established the CSR Stakeholder Forum in the first half of 2014 in order to drive the objectives of the 1st National Plan on CSR, to inform the further development of the CSR policy framework in Ireland, and ensure that the Plan remains relevant to evolving international best practice and thinking.
The CSR Stakeholder Forum through a Work Programme implement and support the 17 actions contained in the National Plan on CSR 2017-2020.
The CSR Stakeholder Forum comprises representatives of the business sector, key Government Departments and Agencies, and the wider community.
The role of the Stakeholder Forum is to assist with achieving the objectives identified in the National Plan on CSR which include:
monitoring best practices and evolving trends in CSR and benchmarking activity through relevant tools and studies
continuing to increase awareness of CSR, its value to businesses and to society as a whole
encouraging more micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises to raise their competitiveness through CSR engagement
working to increase recognition among large business of the value of sustainable business practices in boosting employment, attracting and retaining talent as well as their impact on wider society
encouraging businesses to report their CSR activity in their annual reports and other publications
For the purposes of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, the CSR Stakeholder Forum is obliged to comply with the Transparency Code as it is exempted from registering on the Lobbying Register.
Minutes of meetings of the Forum held since September 2015 are available on csrhub.ie (Minutes of Meetings).