Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A number of issues were raised by Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan which I did not address in my initial response. The first is the 0.7% of GDP commitment. As the economic position permits, this is constantly under review, but the commitment stands that we will reach the target by 2030. There is an ongoing debate in that regard.

The Deputy was anxious that the matter of tax be taken into consideration in the context of development. This is exclusively a matter for the Minister for Finance, but the Government is aware of the importance of ensuring the involvement of the developing world in these processes. The Minister previously publicly called on countries to undertake a spillover analysis of how their taxation regimes impacted on the developing world and I understand the results will be presented shortly. I would be happy to engage with the Minister on behalf of the committee on the basis that the importance of taxation to development was also fully recognised by Irish Aid. We provide financial support through many of our programmes for the African Tax Administration Forum, an important self-learning initiative, which allows African administrators to articulate their tax priorities and engage in capacity building in tax policy and administration.

The Deputy mentioned the level of representation at the forthcoming Addis Ababa conference. Ireland will be represented at the same level as virtually all other EU states. Heads of delegation will, in general terms, be the Minister with responsibility for development, in this case, the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock.

I will come back to the situation in Cuba.