Ms Heydi Foster-Breslin:

In making this submission this morning, we have no wish to put the Government in the invidious position of having to decide between allocating funding for development efforts abroad and allocating funding for essential services here in Ireland. We appreciate that there are difficult choices to make around the Cabinet table and applaud the Government for affording, during the recent economic crisis, what protection was within its power to the overseas aid budget.

Ireland's overseas development aid programme is rightly held in high regard by its OECD peers, and the quality of the programme has been highlighted time and again. It cannot be denied that this small nation has punched well above its weight where contributing to global development is concerned.

At its peak, in 2008, the Government spent €921 million in aid, representing 0.95% of GNI. The total spent on aid in 2016 was €732 million, or 0.33% of GNI. Having come through some very difficult years, however, the economy is growing again. We believe the prospect of sustained growth provides an opportunity to plan for the future prudently but with some degree of confidence. The publication of an explicit roadmap, as outlined in the Dóchas submission to this committee, is a key element in planning for overseas development aid growth to meet the UN target of 0.7% of GNI. That percentage represents only 70 cent out of every €100 produced in the Irish economy but the difference this small percentage can make in the lives of poor, vulnerable and marginalised people has literally to be seen to be believed. I would love to be able to bring the members of the committee to Rumbek in South Sudan, where the Loreto Sisters are transforming the lives of young girls, the leaders of tomorrow, by ensuring they receive a quality education. In Mzuzu in northern Malawi, the St. John of God brothers are bringing dignity and compassion to the lives of people encountering mental health challenges.

It goes without saying that, as the economy grows, the absolute amount allocated to the overseas development aid, ODA, budget will increase, even if the percentage remains the same, but the scale of need in developing countries, from humanitarian assistance, to meeting basic needs, to advocating for human rights, is such that the ODA as a percentage of GNI needs also to grow. We are a small country and there are limits to our resources, but even small countries can have a great impact on the lives of people in developing countries. This is the experience of my own organisation, Misean Cara, where missionaries can manage, with grants of €10,000, to transform lives. This year, however, Misean Cara was unable to meet the needs of its members organisations, as represented by the total value of the funding proposals received in April. We had reluctantly to take the decision to cut all grants by 10% across the board, thus curtailing the interventions planned by our members in communities throughout the world. I am sure that my colleagues here could tell similar stories.

The work of development is often long and slow, built on long-term commitment to an ideal, even when immediate prospects are not encouraging. An example of this, which is well known to members of this committee, is the 2012 victory at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the community of El Mozote in El Salvador, which is my part of the world. The survivors were supported over three decades by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. Together, they worked for justice in the wake of the horrific massacre in 1981, and finally achieved it 31 years later. To achieve something such as this, long-term support is essential. The community did not give up and those supporting them did not either. To be able to build real momentum in development and to ensure that success builds upon success, we as organisations need to be able to assure our programmes and partners in the global south that funding will follow year on year. We need to be able to enter, with confidence, into multi-annual agreements. This will allow organisations that are bringing life enhancing change to communities dedicate a little less time to the constant search for funding and more to the implementation of quality programmes. A clear commitment to a multi-annual roadmap towards the 0.7% target would go a long way towards making that possible.

Globally, bilateral ODA to the least developed countries, LDCs, has fallen from $25 billion to $22.4 billion in 2016. Ireland previously led on reaching a UN target to give 0.15% of bilateral ODA to LDCs. Ireland exceeded this target from 2011 to 2014, but this positive trend looks set to be broken. In 2016, the share of Ireland's bilateral aid to LDCs was just under 0.1% of GNI.

Ireland's long-standing commitment to poor and vulnerable communities in the less developed countries of the world is something of which we can all be very proud. At a time when it appears that uncertainty, conflict and confrontation are increasing at a global level, Ireland can be an example of solidarity and support. The Irish know both sides of this story. Given our history of famine and emigration, we know what it is like to lose everything. We have the chance now to show leadership as global citizens at a time when it has never been more required. We can set down a marker for many other countries to follow by publishing a multi-annual roadmap to reach the 0.7% target by 2025 at the latest.