Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to the delegates for being late to the meeting. As a member of this committee and as chairman of the Irish section of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, AWEPA, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of African countries. What impresses one very forcibly is the changing nature of the aid relationship. It is no longer simply a case of donor and receiver, with a number of African countries now moving into the middle-income groups internationally. Will the delegates' review take account of that changing relationship?

When it comes to comprehensive development, coherence is important. I have referred on several occasions to the dilemma that arises in terms of the food hunger versus biofuels debate. Another issue of concern is that we are increasingly seeing food being treated as a commodity for the market, something which people can make money out of as opposed to the idea of it being primarily about meeting people's needs. I am interested to hear the delegates' views on that.

I was delayed this morning because I was meeting with a delegation of parliamentarians from the Arab spring countries who were invited over to Ireland by AWEPA. One of the issues that has emerged very forcibly from our engagement is the importance of fair and balanced trade partnerships, which inevitably raises the question of tax justice. We all know about illicit capital flight and there has been some progress made with the extractive industries. This issue must be a priority. What is the point of our giving aid to countries when they are losing their financial resources because of tax evasion by multinational companies?

Human rights issues are a frequent subject of discussion in this committee. Where we have an economic trade agreement with a country, the very least we should require is an assurance that workers have decent working conditions and other basic rights. I am not saying we should go in and tell people what to do in their own country. We can, however, be a strong voice, in a non-threatening and non-aggressive way, on the issue of human rights internationally. The reality is that we are trading with countries which have appalling records in the area of human rights. We cannot simply close our eyes to that reality.