Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach may be aware that the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence recently published a review of Irish Aid. In conducting the review we met stakeholders - NGOs, departmental officials, Ministers, members of academia and the former ambassador Mr. David Donoghue. The response to the Irish Aid programme has been overwhelmingly positive in terms of what it has achieved in different countries. I have just come from a committee meeting at which Dr. Annie Sparrow made a presentation on the awful situation in Syria, where 13 million people are in need of humanitarian aid and 5.6 million are in acute need. Dr. Sparrow has again outlined to the committee that, unfortunately, humanitarian aid is not getting through to the people most in need. She is a leading paediatrician in the United States of America and has worked in many of the world's most troubled spots in training medics. She has said Irish Aid organisations are among the most effective in the world, which is a good endorsement. The Government has given a commitment under the heading of the sustainable development goals that the level of assistance will reach the figure of 0.7% of gross national income by 2030. The committee unanimously endorses this approach. Will the Taoiseach endorse the annual plan for how Ireland will reach the figure of 0.7% and outline his views in that regard?