Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their patience. The first part of the meeting continued for longer than we expected and I apologise. I am sure the witnesses listened to what the Secretary General and his team had to say, which was of interest to them in their work.

I welcome the following: Mr. Hans Zomer, director of Dóchas; Mr. Jim Clarken, chairperson of Dóchas and CEO of Oxfam; Ms Lorna Gold, a member of the board of Dóchas and head of policy and advocacy of Trócaire with which the committee has very good relations; and Mr. Sorley McCaughey, head of policy and advocacy of Christian Aid Ireland. They are all welcome and represent a broad spectrum of our NGOs under the umbrella group of Dóchas.

The meeting will deal with two important aspects of development policy. There is growing awareness of the fact that poverty reduction cannot be achieved by aid alone and other policies such as trade, agriculture, climate change and migration security have the potential to make positive and negative impacts on the poor in developing countries. Recognition of this important principle is fundamental to our search for policy coherence for development. When I addressed the conference on this issue at the European Parliament in April I drew on the 2006 White Paper which stressed that coherence is about more than vetting decisions for a potential negative impact on development. It is also about harnessing the potential throughout Government for ideas and actions which can contribute to sustainable global development and the objectives of Irish Aid.

I am glad to see this principle recognised and brought to the fore by the new policy document, One World, One Future, which we launched at Irish Aid headquarters recently. There is growing consensus that policy coherence for development should be at the centre of the post-2015 development agenda. This meeting is timely in the context of the post-2015 scenario, particularly in view of the UN special event on the millennium development goals which will take place in New York in September. I hope our discussion today will be a useful contribution to the formulation of Government policy and ultimately EU policy in advance of this very important UN event. It is also in advance of the G8 meeting which will take place next week in Fermanagh and at which these issues will be raised also. I am delighted the witnesses have come before the committee prior to this event and I know Mr. Zomer was anxious to be here.

By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they are to give this committee. If they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

I apologise for postponing the meeting last week but the witnesses would probably have been speaking to an empty house, and we certainly want to make this much more relevant to the committee so its members are part of the discussion. All members of the committee have an interest in this area.