Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Keatinge and her colleagues for the great presentation. It is very helpful to have an emphasis on the implementation of the sustainable development goals. This committee has heard from Mr. David Donoghue and the role Ireland has played but it is important that we focus on it again. I also thank the witnesses for their kind words about the committee's report.

The witnesses made some strong recommendations and I suggest that the committee endorse them. One action we are being asked to take on EU funding is to write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade ahead of the next EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 26 November to share the concerns of civil society and to request regular reports to the committee on Ireland's position on the MFF. That might address the issues raised by Dr. Hinds. Ms Keatinge reminded us that Mr. Brian Hayes, MEP, is part of the development committee of the European Parliament. I suggest we engage with him and ask him to come before us to talk about what is going on in the development committee of the European Parliament. It would be a very useful engagement.

I have a couple of specific questions arising out of the presentation in respect of the implementation of the sustainable development goals, SDGs. How do the witnesses propose that engagement with civil society in the voluntary national review process can be improved? I was not clear whether they said engagement was poor at international level, following their experience in New York, or whether it was at national level. What could this committee do to address that? They also said they wanted the Department of the Taoiseach to take lead responsibility for the delivery of the SDGs. There is an interdepartmental group of senior officials, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, and an interdepartmental working group chaired by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also playing a central role, but I am not clear why the last of these is essentially the lead Department for this. If the Department of the Taoiseach is already involved, why is it not taking the lead?

Should we send our report to the Department of Finance again to remind it of our suggestion for a roadmap to meet the 0.7% goal? It might be worth making the point to the Department, even at this late stage, rather than commenting retrospectively after the budget next week.

The witnesses referred to a number of SDGs in respect of which we are performing well, such as SDG 1 on having no poverty but SDG 5, on gender equality, is not listed as one of the goals in respect of which Ireland is performing well. I am aware that the Irish Family Planning Association submission to the all-party group and to the White Paper on Irish Aid has proposed that greater emphasis be placed on the goal of gender equality, particularly given our reality after the repeal of the eighth amendment. This should be reflected in policy and funding for sexual and reproductive health and the rights of women and girls, and it should be done at international level as a support for the efforts of other states to counterbalance and resist the current US Administration's aggressive attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Ireland has supported a strong resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in recent weeks on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights and we are doing well in some ways but the witnesses might comment on what we could do better.