Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to present the 2018 Revised Estimates for Vote 27 for international co-operation. Vote 27 funds over 70% of Ireland’s official development assistance, ODA, 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, secure and sustainable world.

This year the Government has provided just over €707 million for ODA, an increase of €26 million on last year's allocation. This increased allocation builds on the momentum started in 2016 of increasing budget allocations to ODA in an incremental, measured and sustainable way. Some €500 million of the total will be managed through my Department while the remainder, an estimated €207 million, will be managed through other Departments and Ireland's share of the EU development co-operation budget. The sum of €707 million is a significant investment on behalf of the Irish taxpayer and represents a clear demonstration of the Government's firm commitment to the aid programme and to our stated position of increasing allocations as economic conditions permit.

In line with aspirations that are shared with this committee we remain committed to making incremental, sustainable and manageable progress towards achieving the 0.7% UN target by 2030, over the period of the sustainable development goals. This progress will build on Ireland's recognised role as a reliable and effective partner in contributing to ending global poverty and hunger, and in providing flexible humanitarian assistance to those most in need.

The committee will appreciate that reaching the 0.7% target will involve significant increases to the official development assistance, ODA, budget. Currently Ireland spends roughly 0.3% of gross national income, GNI, on ODA. The projected growth in aid budgets to match this ambition will be substantial and will require careful planning and consultation with other Departments and stakeholders, including Irish citizens and civil society organisations and, importantly, this committee.

I acknowledge the recent review undertaken by the committee. I was delighted to attend the presentation of the review. I reiterate that the conclusions and recommendations of that report will form a key input to the development of a new White Paper on international development co-operation. One of my Department’s key objectives this year is to produce a new White Paper on international development co-operation. This will inform an ambitious pathway towards making greater but sustainable progress on the UN target.

The international development context has evolved significantly over the past five years. The White Paper will build on our existing aid programme and will allow us to take stock of the implications of a fast-changing global environment and prioritise our role in fulfilling the ambitious international development policy agenda. Internal preparations and analysis are already under way for the White Paper. The process to develop the new policy will include a period of consultation from March to May across Government and with the public, following Department of Public Expenditure and Reform guidelines. It is intended that the new policy will be produced by the end of July 2018 at the earliest.

I am passionate about Ireland’s development co-operation programme and in making sure that we excel in how we target and deliver our resources for maximum impact. Ireland and the Irish people can be very proud of our country’s impact. Any member who has travelled abroad would certainly echo that sentiment. We are reducing inequality, poverty and hunger. We bring our authentic experience as a people to this work as we continue delivering a world class programme, aimed at some of the world’s most vulnerable and marginalised people, helping to save lives, build livelihoods and bring lifesaving humanitarian assistance to those most in need and in times of crisis. I welcome comments and questions from committee members.