Mr. Jim Clarken:

The big question is how we manage policy coherence for development. It is not easy. We must be committed to it and acknowledge that it is important and that it must happen somehow. Other countries have done well in this area, such as Sweden and the Netherlands, and we can learn from good examples elsewhere. We are committed to coherence; it can really enhance the good things Ireland has done through the aid programme, working with its partners. At the same time, we acknowledge the detrimental effects it can have if it does not work properly, and then look at how we can come up with an appropriate mechanism. We have made some suggestions today and, as a sector, we would be more than happy to engage in a positive way to provide some suggestions and ideas and work with the various bodies involved. We have experience throughout the world of what works well.

We welcome the comments from Deputy O'Sullivan on our work on trade and biofuels. People talk about trade being a way out of poverty but we must be careful about linking trade and development. We have a long, proud history in the field of international development of our aid being untied. It does not come with conditions, and we stand over that. When trade is linked with aid it must be done in the positive sense. It must be a two-way street, where it is not just about Irish trade missions and creating opportunities for Irish organisations but creating opportunities for developing countries to trade with us. We must enhance that.

The ethical value underpinning this policy is the human rights approach and we must agree the fundamentals on human rights, as we try to do. I take issue with using feminist ideology when we talk about women's rights; women are 50% of the world's population and they are much more likely to live in poverty. We believe that if women can be supported properly in working their way out of poverty, the face of poverty will be changed and it will be reduced and ultimately eradicated. We are talking about the right to own land and funds, not to be beaten and to give birth safely - childbirth is still the biggest killer of women in some parts of the world. We must be careful not to narrow this down to a particular contentious issue; we are talking about women's rights across the spectrum, including reproductive rights.

We must think about climate justice. It involves responsibility. We work with developing countries to help them adapt to climate change, but it cannot be left up to those countries entirely to come up with ways for them to survive the damage we have done to their environment through what we have done in the last 50 or 100 years. It must also be our responsibility in terms of how we change the way we continue our development.

Deputy Crowe's point about $1.25 per day is very important. We talk about 870 million people living in extreme poverty, who are going hungry tonight, but just above that another 1 billion people are not far off that. The concept of inequality being a driver of development goals must be a fundamental part of our policy.