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

I want to acknowledge what has been maintained in spite of recessionary budgets and repeated calls to drastically cut ODA or eliminate it altogether. I would like to see how we will achieve the 0.7% target because it is being pushed further and further out.

We know the damage done by climate change, yet we are only donating €2 million to the green fund. Are there plans to increase that figure?

I was a member of the previous committee and chaired the Irish section of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, AWEPA. I have particular concerns about Africa. There was great disappointment when our embassy in Lesotho closed. I met the former ambassador recently, who is now working in a voluntary capacity. What engagement has taken place with Lesotho and the programmes we had in place?

I refer to a bigger issue, namely, policy coherence and aid effectiveness, about which I spoke recently at the African, Caribbean and Pacific, ACP, Assembly. There are times when we seem to give aid with one hand but surely the objective must be to increase sustainable livelihoods and food security in African or partner countries. There are serious concerns that the Economic Partnership Agreements, EPAs, trade agreements, etc., are not contributing to this objective. At the ACP Assembly recently - I mentioned this in the Dáil the other day - I was horrified to meet parliamentarians from African countries who knew nothing about EPAs even though their parliaments were going to ratify them. It is incumbent on Europe to make sure that parliaments know exactly what is involved in these EPAs. Other parliamentarians knew exactly what was involved in EPAs and had serious concerns.

An EPA agreement was signed in Botswana two weeks ago but its ratification is only coming up. There are countries which are prepared to ratify the EPA but because their neighbouring countries are not going to do so, they could be fined. I think there is an issue there for them and Ghana, in particular, could have an issue. Those countries are concerned that their own agrifood industries are being undermined. I do not think enough is going into that. Again, it comes back to policy coherence of giving with one hand and yet the economic growth of the donor country seems to drive so much aid. I know our aid is untied, which I hope continues, but other countries have serious concerns because that is what drives their overseas development aid.

Another issue is engagement with parliamentarians. I hope that whenever people go to Africa to visit areas in receipt of Irish Aid, they meet the local parliamentarians. Again, it is concerning that there are African parliamentarians who do not know about aid being given to their countries. We are talking about democracy and peer to peer engagement of parliamentarians. It is very disturbing that we do not see either.

Another big issue, on which I would like us to do more, is tax. I read that Africa received $134 billion one year in the form of ODA and so on but in the same year, $190 billion left Africa in the form of tax evasion, tax avoidance and the various contracts multinational companies engineer and produce. There is a need to join up the dots. I totally support ODA and would never undermine or criticise such aid. We need to look at the bigger picture of tax, parliamentary engagement and policy coherence. We are lauded for sending all this milk formula, which is full of fat, to African countries but we have other programmes which encourage African women to breast-feed. There is a big industry around frozen chicken parts and exporting them to certain African countries. They are banned in some countries but there is an illicit trade going on. This is an agrifood business which we could help to support local African farmers to develop.