Mr. Éamonn Meehan:

Regarding Deputy O'Sullivan's questions, policy coherence for development is critical. We have such a good track record in development co-operation that it would be a great pity if other Government or EU policies undermined our excellent work. This is at the root of policy coherence for development. It is good that this committee now has a monitoring role in that regard. It tends to be slightly orphaned as a topic within the development community, but it is one of the most important issues that we could address and involves everything from trade to tied aid, the relationship between our private sector and African governments, etc.

It is difficult for us to have a role in the Syrian evacuations. We have direct access to information from Syria and partners working inside that country. The only way to bring about a situation in which there is proper care for those who are in need is a peace agreement. A considerable amount of effort needs to go into achieving that. There are no short-term or other solutions to this crisis. The question is whether all of those who are engaged in what is a proxy war actually have the best interests of Syrians at heart or whether there are bigger issues at play.

A question was asked about the disengagement from the Palestinian Authority by groups. It is true. In terms of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas in Gaza, there is no question that there are issues of governance for ordinary Palestinians. Given the origins of the authority, it has never been in a position to develop good systems of governance. It only re-entered the West Bank and Gaza after the Oslo Accords were signed in the early 1990s. Beforehand, it was a political movement. There is a long history dating back to the Ottoman Empire of appalling governance and mistreatment of the peoples who have lived in that region. We are just seeing the latest version. It is no surprise that ordinary people in their social movements become disconnected from what they regard as a less-than-perfect government. I will revert to the Palestine question again in a moment.

Senator Walsh referred to sustainable development assistance. I thank him for his comments, as that is our approach. While short-term assistance is required in many situations, our approach is long term.

We look for sustainable solutions to people's problems. Whether that is in the area of livelihoods, around basic human rights, good governance or even in engaging in humanitarian response, we try to ensure the approach leads on to building back robust livelihoods.

Reference was made to the charities regulator. I do not remember the report produced by Declan Costello in the 1970s but I gather it encouraged the proper regulation of charities within Ireland. Over the years and for many decades Trócaire has engaged with our public representatives and encouraged and spoken out about the need for proper regulation of the charities sector. It is true to say that as a sector we have been let down over the years by the fact this did not happen but it is good it is happening now. I am somewhat concerned that it will take quite an amount of resources to get this up and running properly. It will require a regulator, a commission and public servants to work on the project. At the same time, I am hopeful that within the coming years we will have a proper structure in place whereby charities will be regulated, proper governance will be in place and we will know what is expected of us.

I wish to deal with another question that came up. In the absence of proper charities regulation in Ireland, what we have done, along with several other charities, is to import the legal standards that operate in the United Kingdom. The basis of this is an auditing standard called the statement of recommended practice for charities. It is a very detailed standard and it outlines precisely what is and is not charitable expenditure. It outlines precisely what we as a charitable organisation must reveal in our annual report and how our auditor should go about auditing the accounts. That is the legal standard in Britain. We apply it in its entirety in the auditing of our accounts and we have done so since 2007. The standard was introduced in Britain in 2005. We believe those who give us money, whether it is the taxpayer through Irish Aid or ordinary people through their donations to the Lenten campaign or otherwise, deserve that standard. We look forward to the appointment of a regulator here and I imagine the standards that will apply will be broadly similar. I cannot imagine there will be a great difference in those standards.

Reference was made to climate change. The economic crisis has drawn people's attention away from the topic not only in Ireland but globally. This is because one of the issues required to respond to it is money and if money is not available and people are concentrating on other issues, it is regrettable but that is the situation.

The problem is vast and we see it in our work all the time. Zimbabwe is only one example but it is evident in Central America, parts of South America and parts of India and Pakistan. Huge swathes of sub-Saharan Africa are seriously vulnerable to climate change. When we talk to farmers, they talk about how it is hotter than it used to be and how there is less rainfall. From our research we have actual clear-cut evidence for this based on meteorological data which has been examined for us by experienced researchers.

What does this mean for ourselves as a country? Ireland is a small country and the overall scale of our emissions in terms of global emissions is rather small. At the same time I do not believe it is acceptable for us as a country to sit back and argue that the Chinese emit hundreds of times more greenhouse gases than we do and therefore if they sorted out their house it would solve the problem. The same applies in the case of the United States and so on. If we took that attitude to every problem we would not be a nation in good standing with others.

There is an opportunity here for us as well if we can take a leadership role. There are economic opportunities for us in terms of how we approach economic development, whether in agriculture, industry or energy. I believe we can look positively at this issue. Rather than see it as a problem we could engage our best minds, think tanks, industrialists and economists to figure out how we could make ourselves into a nation that benefits from this as opposed to one that is, in a sense, fighting shy of it. It is very good that we are, at last, on the point of having climate change legislation in this country. We are now getting to a stage where we can put ourselves in a leadership position within the European Union.

Reference was made to Sudan and the conditions there. It is important to remember there are now two conflicts, literally on both sides of the border in Sudan. There is a civil war in South Sudan and, just north of the border in the state of South Kordofan, there is a conflict between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North. While the conflict in South Sudan is getting plenty of coverage, the conflict in South Kordofan is hidden but is causing much death, suffering and displacement. Hundreds of thousands of people are in serious need there. I call on the committee and the Irish Government, in whatever fora they can, to raise this issue and to try to bring pressure on the Government of Sudan to engage with the other side and cease attacks on innocent people, in particular, bombardments from the sky, which are absolutely appalling, as well as the bombing of hospitals. They know where the hospitals are, yet they continue to bomb and kill people who are working to try to save lives in those hospitals.

Deputy Crowe referred to the reduction in the number of countries. This is partly financial in the sense that the past five years have been rather difficult for us in terms of raising funds. However, at the heart of this is a realisation that if we are to do effective work, we need to narrow our focus and go deeper, and that is what we are doing. We are deepening our commitment to those 17 countries and we are strengthening our small teams there. We are increasing the capacity of those teams in those countries to deliver better quality programmes and to bring about more programmes in order that, ultimately, we can reach more people. It is a decision based on a better understanding of what actually delivers good outcomes for people. That is at the root of it. Ultimately, there is a financial component to it as well. We hope that with better impact and by being able to demonstrate that good impact, we will be able to generate more resources for those 17 countries.