Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I dtús báire, gabhaim mo chomhghairdeas leis an gCathaoirleach faoina cheapachán úr agus guím ádh mór air amach anseo agus ar bhaill an choiste fosta. Guím gach rath orthu go léir leis an obair thábhachtach atá romhainn. Chomh maith le sin, ba mhaith liom aitheantas a thabhairt d'iar-oifigigh mo chuid-se i Roinn na Gaeltachta. In 2014 nuair a tháinig an crú ar an tairne bhí siadsan ann agus is mór an tacaíocht agus an cuidiú a bhfuair mé uathu ag an am.

The Chairman is conscious of the fact, as am I, that Ministers come and go, so I wanted to publicly acknowledge my appreciation to my former team in the Department of the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and to let this committee know that use of the Irish language will continue in this Department. I have a meeting today with the coiste Gaeilge in the Department. If the Chairman has anyideas around how we can network and link in with our global diaspora or global networks in respect of the promotion of the Irish language, we will be all ears. I further add that since coming into this Department, I have been welcomed in a very positive way and am really looking forward to working with a positive and strong team.

I welcome the opportunity to present the 2016 Revised Estimate for Vote 27 - International Co-operation and to briefly outline our plans for the coming year. As the new Minister of State with responsibility for the diaspora and international development, I look forward to a constructive engagement today and throughout my term as Minister with responsibility for Ireland's development programme. I repeat that my officials and I are available to the committee at all times and I hope it will have an early opportunity to visit the aid programme to see and assess its impact for itself.

As the committee is aware, Vote 27 - International Co-operation funds approximately 80% of Ireland's official development assistance programme, better known to the public as Irish Aid. The Vote provides the funding necessary to deliver on the Department's high-level goal to work towards a fairer, more just, securer and sustainable world. For 2016, the Government has provided a total budget of €641 million, which is an increase of €40 million or almost 7% on the 2015 allocation.

This is the first substantive increase in the aid budget in seven years and is a clear indication of the Government's firm commitment to the aid programme. Of this total, €483 million is managed by my Department under Vote 27 - International Co-operation, while the remaining €155 million is made up of contributions by other Departments and Ireland’s share of the EU Development Co-operation budget.

The Government is committed to the UN target of providing 0.7% of gross national product, GNP, as official development assistance, ODA. Our programme for Government reiterates this position and states that we will make progress towards the target as resources permit. As the economic recovery consolidates, we have begun to start delivering on this commitment. Our ambition is to continue to make sustainable progress towards the UN target in line with the commitment we have made with our fellow EU member states to collectively reach the UN 0.7% target by 2030, the timeframe for the sustainable development goals. At this stage, we estimate the 2016 allocation will deliver an ODA-GNP percentage of 0.36%. However, the final statistic, which is heavily dependent on GNP, will not be available until next spring.

Ireland’s aid programme is strongly focused on the fight against poverty and hunger in the world. More than 80% of our funding is provided in sub-Saharan Africa, where the needs are greatest. Seven of our eight key partner countries are in Africa, the eighth being Vietnam. We are working this year to address the immediate needs arising from the unprecedented level of humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and Africa, while strengthening the resilience of our partners through our long-term development programme. This is a difficult balance, given the scale of immediate need, but it is a vital one if we are to assist in averting future crises as a result of conflict, underdevelopment, inequality and climate change. It is essential that we frame our work in the context of the new sustainable development goals, adopted by world leaders at the UN last September, which provide a new agenda for global development up to 2030.

The scale of the humanitarian crisis facing the world was captured by the UNHCR this week. There are now 65.3 million people worldwide displaced from their homes as refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers. The number, scale and intensity of emergencies continue to increase and the humanitarian system is struggling to cope. In the past decade, the number of people who need humanitarian assistance has increased by 237%. Since 2004, humanitarian funding requirements have increased by 490%.

Ireland's humanitarian assistance in 2016 will total approximately €150 million, representing a sizable scaling up on previous years. Our support is focused on responding to meeting the acute needs of people affected by ongoing complex conflict crises in Syria and its neighbouring countries, South Sudan and the Horn of Africa and the Sahel region. Ireland is also responding to food insecurity and acute malnutrition arising from the impact of the El Niño weather effect throughout Africa and to crises which receive less media attention such as those in Somalia, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Last month, I represented the Government at the first ever world humanitarian summit in Istanbul. At that summit, Ireland made a number of specific commitments which we are now taking forward. These include an increased focus on the needs of displaced communities, more efficient and predictable provision of humanitarian funding and greater coherence between our development and humanitarian funding.

Over the coming weeks, I plan to visit Uganda to launch our new five year development programme, which is strongly focused on education and some of the poorest communities in the country. I look forward to meeting with our NGO partners, which are so critical to the delivery of Ireland’s development and humanitarian programmes and to our policy engagement internationally. I will also be engaging with our key UN partners as we follow up on my initial meetings at the summit in Istanbul and prepare for the migration summit in New York on 19 September. We provide targeted core support to a number of key UN partners and other international organisations, whose priorities and policies fit well with ours and who have a proven track record of delivery. These voluntary contributions allow Ireland to participate in development co-operation at a global level in key areas of need and in countries outside our bilateral programme.

Our development co-operation is at the heart of Ireland’s foreign policy. Our key objective for 2016 is to continue delivering a world class programme which is aimed at some of the world’s most vulnerable and marginalised people, helping to save lives and building livelihoods.

We appreciate the continued strong support and engagement of the committee in this regard. I would welcome comments and questions from members.